Trump’s investment in Intel is paying off

Trump administration The investment in Intel appears to be paying off, but the once-powerful chipmaker has a long way to go to return to industry dominance.

In August, the US government announced that it would convert about $9 billion in federal grants issued to Intel during the Biden administration into a roughly 10% stake in the company. During third-quarter earnings on Thursday — its first financial update since President Trump’s surprise investment — Intel reported that it generated $13.7 billion in revenue over the past three months, an increase of 3 percent year over year. It’s the fourth straight quarter that Intel has beaten revenue guidance.

Intel’s stock price has risen more than 90 percent since it struck the deal with Trump over the summer. At the time, the company’s shares were trading at around $20. Following its earnings report today, its stock price rose to $38.16.

The White House announced it was investing in Intel weeks after Trump publicly called on CEO Lip Bo Tan to resign over his allegedly problematic ties with China. However, the president changed his position only days later, after what he described as a positive meeting with Tan.

On the earnings call, Tan said he was “honored by the trust” placed in him by Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. He added that Intel is “fully committed to the Trump administration’s vision and proudly welcomes the United States as a key partner in our efforts.”

Intel’s stronger-than-expected revenue suggests that global demand for x86 chips, the type in which Intel specializes, continues to rise as the technology industry invests heavily in AI infrastructure. While GPUs, like Nvidia’s H100s, are still the gold standard for training AI models, data center builds include a combination of x86 GPUs and CPUs, which run different AI workloads.

Intel noted on the earnings call that it has not been able to supply its hardware customers with enough older chips, which are not as advanced as newer generations of AI semiconductors. This is partly because consumer demand for AI-powered computers is not particularly strong, so hardware manufacturers are still looking for older, cheaper chips.

Intel also reported net income of $4.1 billion. A year ago, the company said its losses exceeded $16 billion. Under Tan’s leadership, Intel has aggressively tried to cut costs, including by laying off 15% of its workforce.

The past few months have been busy for Intel. Along with the Trump administration, graphics processing giant Nvidia and multinational technology conglomerate Softbank also transferred money to the company in exchange for common stock. During the last quarter, Intel received $5.7 billion from the US government, $5 billion from Nvidia, and $2 billion from SoftBank. It raised an additional $5.2 billion by selling stakes in chipmaker Altera and self-driving company Mobileye.