Trump admin pours cold water on its hot Intel deal

Catch up quick: The U.S. government would soon acquire around a 10% equity stake in Intel, whose products division has been supporting its foundry.

• The White House then would put pressure on major U.S. tech companies to buy Intel chips or use its foundry, either by making a compelling national security case or (more likely) via an array of financial carrots and sticks.
• Maybe there would even be a move to split the company, taking the foundry private.

Driving the news: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was interviewed on Tuesday morning by CNBC.

• Bessent confirmed that the U.S. government is in talks to take an equity stake, via the conversion of untapped CHIPS Act loans (logistical details of which remain murky).
• Then he poured cold water on finding new customers for Intel.
• "The last thing we're going to do is take the stake and then try to drum up business," Bessent said. "There's no talk of trying to force companies to try and buy from Intel."

Zoom in: Bessent may be playing coy, not wanting to spook Silicon Valley before he even has a deal in place.

• If he's sincere, you're going to need a ton of AI to figure out how this isn't burning taxpayer dollars. Why spend $10 billion to "stabilize" a company without trying to solve the main reason it's unstable in the first place?

• To be clear, there are all sorts of second-order issues with the U.S. government bluntly coercing U.S. companies to alter their strategic decisions. But that's a slippery slope on which the Trump 2.0 administration has shown no hesitance to slide.

The bottom line: If you're going to create a national champion, it only makes sense to ensure there's a well-attended parade. Otherwise, it may be a short-lived title.