With Intel, U.S. Has a Stake Without a Strategy
Trump’s forays into private business appear driven by money rather than an overarching plan to bolster American competitiveness
By Greg Ip
Aug. 29, 2025 7:00 pm
The U.S. has historically shied away from putting money into private business. It can’t really outguess the market on where the most promising returns lie.
Yet there are exceptions. Sometimes a company or industry risks failing without public support, and that failure would hurt the whole country, not just its shareholders and employees.
Intel meets both conditions. It isn’t failing, but it is losing money, its core business is in decline, and it lacks the capital and customers needed to make the most advanced semiconductors.
If Intel were to fail, it would take a sizable chunk of the semiconductor industrial base with it. At a time of existential competition with China, that is a national emergency.
“It is a crisis, and there has been direct government intervention in times of crisis before,” said Jimmy Goodrich, senior adviser for technology analysis to RAND, a research organization.
During the 2007-09 recession, Washington injected funds into banks and car companies. Just as their survival was a “national security and livelihood issue, so is the ability to produce chips,” said Goodrich.
wsj.com |
