Intel shares rise as report of likely government stake stokes hopes of US aid
INTEL shares rose nearly 3% on Friday on hopes of more financial aid for the turnaround of the struggling chipmaker after a report that the U.S. government may buy a stake.
The Bloomberg News report followed a meeting between CEO Lip-Bu Tan and President Donald Trump on Monday after Trump demanded the new Intel chief's resignation over his "highly conflicted" ties to Chinese firms.
Trump, who called the meeting "very interesting", has taken an unprecedented approach to interventions and deal-making with corporate America.
His administration had struck a deal with MP Materials that would make the Department of Defense the largest shareholder of the rare-earth producer.
Federal backing could give Intel more time to revive its loss-making foundry business, analysts said, but it still faces a weak product roadmap and trouble attracting customers for new factories.
Under the Biden administration, Intel had emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the 2022 CHIPS Act, as former CEO Pat Gelsinger laid out plans to build advanced factories.
Tan, however, pared back such ambitions, slowing construction of new plants in Ohio. He plans to build factories based on demand for the services, which analysts have said could put him at odds with Trump's push to shore up American manufacturing.
The report said a deal would help build out the Ohio plant, which has faced delays and was expected to be completed by 2030.
It could be a "game-changer", said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. But he warned "government support might help shore up confidence, but it doesn't fix the underlying competitiveness gap in advanced nodes."
Intel lost its competitive edge years ago to Taiwan's TSMC . It has virtually no presence in the booming AI chips market dominated by Nvidia and is losing market share in PCs and datacenters to AMD.
Its latest 18A manufacturing process is facing quality issues, Reuters has reported, as only a small share of chips produced are good enough for customers, while it remains partly dependent on TSMC to make Intel in-house designed chips.
"Intel also needs capability; can the US government do anything to help here?" Bernstein analysts said.
"Without a solid process roadmap the entire exercise would be economically equivalent to simply setting 10s of billions of dollars on fire." - Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Baldio restaurant in Mexico City champions zero waste and ancient agriculture
At Baldio, the chefs use ingredients sourced with 200km of the restaurant. — Photos: Reuters Nestled in a quiet corner in the trendy Condesa neighbourhood in Mexico City, Mexico sits the vine-strewn restaurant Baldio, or "barren" in English. It has become a draw for its zero-waste kitchen, which means that every scrap of food and leftovers is reused for other purposes. The restaurant, which opened in 2024 and seats 52 people, is routinely packed since it was honoured in June with a Michelin Green Star for its innovative sustainability model. Baldio's owners say it is the first zero-waste restaurant in Mexico City. A crudo dish with leche de tigre (literally tiger's milk, but is actually a marinade made with lime juice, chilli, coriander and onion), and jicama served at Baldio. Baldio offers Mexican food with a gourmet take, such as yellow corn tamal with fermented salsa and pickles, a Mexican sweet corn salad with smoked butter sauce and cured buffalo meat, and grilled sweet onions with grasshoppers and a hibiscus dressing. Pablo Usobiaga, one of Baldio's three co-founders, said the restaurant's name is a rejection of the idea that "control, efficiency and profitability' are the most important aspects of our lives. "It is a way of challenging the status quo of profitability and absolute control,' he said. A serving of 'sashimi de aguachile' at the zero-waste restaurant Baldio in Mexico City. Fish remains are crafted into a fermented fish sauce, fruit peels are fermented into a traditional Mexican fermented beverage, and onion scraps are fermented until they turn into a powder-like seasoning. All of Baldio's ingredients are sourced within 200km of the restaurant in an effort to reduce its carbon footprint. The majority come from an assortment of floating farms that sit atop an interweaving network of canals in southern Mexico City. The floating farms, known as chinampas, were created a thousand years ago when Aztec farmers built fields on lakes so they could grow food year-round. Usobiaga and the restaurant's other co-founders work with local farmers to help preserve centuries-old agricultural practices. Usobiaga's brother, Lucio, started working with farmers in the area 15 years ago to help them preserve centuries-old agricultural practices, such as using special fermentation techniques and organic fertilisers. As part of their weekly routine, Baldio's chefs travel to Xochimilco to meet with local farmers and explore the crops. Flowers are used in negronis, warm infusions and honey-based fermented drinks. The restaurant's menu changes every week, guided by the season and harvest. Lucio said the restaurant requires a creative spirit to constantly adapt to the changing harvest. "What drives us in the end is this excitement about doing things this way," he said. – Reuters
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Malay Mail
Bursa Malaysia aims for 1,590 next week as US tariff signals and Budget 2026 drive investor momentum
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 — Bursa Malaysia is expected to rise next week towards the 1,590 resistance level, contingent on supportive global risk sentiment and incremental clarity over semiconductor tariff trajectories, said an analyst. UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said that given the weekend timing of the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Malaysia's equity market will absorb any geopolitical repricing effects when trading resumes next week. 'Domestically, the investment narrative will be shaped by further disclosures on the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) project allocations, while the approach of Budget 2026 — now under two months away — will heighten focus on stakeholder engagement sessions as potential precursors to fiscal policy direction ahead of the Prime Minister's parliamentary tabling,' he told Bernama. On the inflation front, Mohd Sedek said Malaysia's July Consumer Price Index (CPI), due for release on Friday, Aug 22, will offer the first high-frequency read on the pass-through impact of the broadened Sales and Service Tax (SST) regime. 'We project headline CPI at 1.2 to 1.3 per cent year-on-year, up from 1.1 per cent in June, with core inflation expected to remain contained,' he said. Globally, Mohd Sedek said, investor attention is set to converge on Wednesday's release of the Federal Open Market Committee minutes and the Jackson Hole Symposium (Aug 21-23) — both considered potential catalysts for repricing policy-rate expectations if a pivot narrative gains momentum. 'Pre-Jackson Hole signalling from Washington has intensified, with the Trump administration adopting a more assertive communications posture than the Federal Reserve's (Fed) measured, data-dependent stance. 'Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has escalated his call from a 50-basis-point cut to a cumulative 150-basis-point reduction, amplifying political pressure on the Fed. 'This shift, combined with personnel changes at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the nomination of dovish candidates to the Federal Reserve Board, reflects a coordinated strategy to influence Fed chair Jerome Powell's policy trajectory,' he said. He added that any eventual dovish recalibration could be positioned domestically as both a political and macroeconomic victory, reinforcing the administration's narrative of executive influence over monetary normalisation. On a weekly basis, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI rose 19.36 points to 1,576.34 on Friday from 1,556.98 a week earlier. The FBM Emas Index gained 129.27 points to 11,731.06, the FBMT 100 Index climbed 132.95 points to 11,512.86, the FBM Emas Shariah Index added 20.67 points to 11,654.85, the FBM 70 Index improved 155.15 points to 16,660.68, and the FBM ACE Index advanced 106.57 points to 4,713.45. By sector, the Financial Services Index rose 499.25 points to 18,080.07, the Plantation Index increased 77.91 points to 7,504.03, and the Energy Index went up 4.11 points to 740.83. Weekly turnover dropped to 11.10 billion units worth RM11.87 billion from 12.65 billion units worth RM11.65 billion in the previous week. The Main Market volume shrank to 7.16 billion units valued at RM11.06 billion compared with 7.66 billion units valued at RM10.61 billion previously. Warrants turnover declined to 3.37 billion units worth RM453.56 million from 3.62 billion units worth RM508.07 million in the preceding week. The weekly ACE Market volume grew to 1.64 billion units valued at RM593.87 million versus 1.37 billion units valued at RM529.84 million previously. — Bernama
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Trump says Putin agrees with him US should not have mail-in voting
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump pose on a podium on the tarmac after they arrived to attend a meeting at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agrees with him that letting voters send in ballots by mail puts honest elections at risk. "Vladimir Putin, smart guy, said you can't have an honest election with mail-in voting," Trump told Fox News Channel's "Hannity" after a nearly three-hour meeting between the leaders in Alaska. "He said there's not a country in the world that uses it now." Trump, who promoted the false narrative that he, not Democrat Joe Biden, won the 2020 election, cited his agreement with Putin over absentee voting as he pressed his fellow Republicans to try harder to advance overhauls to the U.S. voting system that he has long sought. Trump has voted by mail in some previous elections and urged his supporters to do so in 2024. Putin, who has been Russia's president or prime minister since 1999, was elected to another term in office with 87% of the vote in a 2024 election that drew allegations of vote rigging from some independent polling observers, opposition voices and Western governments. The most formidable opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic penal colony in 2024. Russia's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his conversation with Trump. The Russian president has previously said some U.S. elections were marred by fraudulent voting, without presenting evidence. The position mirrors Trump's false claims of widespread voter fraud following the 2020 election. Justice Department and Senate investigations found that Moscow tried to influence campaigns to help Trump win in the 2016 election. U.S. intelligence officials have said they believe Russia tried to do the same in 2020 elections and preferred Trump to win in 2024. Trump and some of his top aides long have asserted that he and his presidential campaigns were falsely accused of colluding with Russia, a claim he brought up again in Alaska on Friday. The U.S. intelligence community never reached such a conclusion. Trump, who has not ruled out seeking a third term in office despite a constitutional prohibition, on Friday showed impatience with Republicans for not prioritizing election reform legislation. "The Republicans want it, but not strongly enough," Trump said during the interview. "You can't have a great democracy with mail-in voting." Some Republicans, echoing Trump's claims, argue that changes like restricting absentee voting and requiring identification could reduce the risks of ballot tampering, impersonation or other forms of fraud that independent analysts say is rare. Nearly three dozen countries from Canada to Germany and South Korea allow some form of postal vote, though more than half of them place some restrictions on which voters qualify, according to the Sweden-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an intergovernmental advocacy group. The Trump administration has stepped back from commenting on the fairness or integrity of elections conducted by many foreign countries in a significant departure from Washington's traditional approach of promoting democratic elections overseas. (Reporting by Reuters Washington bureau; Editing by William Mallard)
