Lip-Bu Tan, chief executive officer of Intel Corp., departs following a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC, U.S., on Monday, Aug. 11, 2025.
Alex Wroblewski | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Don’t mix business with pleasure — or the music of the spheres might eject you from the skies even if you are an astronomer — but it seems, in the current milieu, there are no such restrictions between business and politics.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is eyeing a stake in struggling chipmaker Intel, according to a Bloomberg report on Thursday. That consideration is primarily attributable to Intel’s status as the only born-and-bred American company that can manufacture the fastest chips on U.S. soil.
While some firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung, both of which can produce 3-nanometer chips — the most advanced semiconductors so far — have factories in the U.S., they are Taiwanese and South Korean companies, respectively, and probably do not enjoy apple pies on the Fourth of July.
In combination with the news that Nvidia and AMD will pay the U.S. government a 15% share of their revenue from chip sales in China, as well as Apple committing to make more chips in America, the Trump administration seems to be consolidating a chip empire with the White House as its capital.
To modify a song last heard by the Astronomer CEO before he was cast down to Earth: “I used to rule the world / Chips would rise when I gave the word.”
— CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this report
What you need to know today
The Trump administration is reportedly considering a stake in Intel. The chipmaker is the only U.S. company that can manufacture the most advanced semiconductors in America. Intel’s shares soared 7.4% after Bloomberg reported the news.
Wholesale prices in the U.S. heat up. The producer price index for July shot up 0.9% on the month, higher than the Dow Jones estimate of a 0.2% gain. It was the biggest monthly rise since 2022. The annual figure came in at 3.3%, the highest since February.
Potential Fed chair David Zervos backs an aggressive rate cut. The Jefferies chief market strategist told CNBC that reaccelerating wholesale prices in July should not deter the central bank from cutting its “restrictive” monetary policy by 50 basis points.
U.S. stocks flirt with the flatline. The S&P 500’s barest 0.03% gain, however, means it closed at another high on Thursday. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index added 0.55%. Meanwhile, the U.K. economy expanded by a better-than-expected 0.3% in the second quarter.
[PRO] European defense stocks will benefit from Trump-Putin meeting. Regardless of whether the talks result in any breakthroughs on the war in Ukraine, analysts think it’s a “win-win” situation for defense stocks.
And finally…
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin arrive to attend a joint press conference after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018.
Yuri Kadobnov | Afp | Getty Images
Putin vs. Trump? Ukraine talks could be a test of statecraft
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s standing in the West may be pretty low, but he’s a skilled and seasoned statesman who shouldn’t be underestimated, analysts say — and he’s likely to be looking to outmaneuver his less experienced U.S. counterpart when the leaders meet in Alaska on Friday.
“Let’s be clear, Putin does not take Trump seriously,” Tina Fordham, founder of Fordham Global Foresight, told CNBC ahead of the talks.
— Holly Ellyatt
