U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has been a longtime political enemy of President Donald Trump. However, in a political plot twist, Sanders, considered a progressive, has lined up behind his foe’s plan to turn multibillion-dollar semiconductor subsidies into government equity stakes in private companies.
The unlikely duo—a self-described democratic socialist from Vermont and a populist-leaning Republican president—now agree on one shift in America’s industrial policy: If the government is going to hand out billions, taxpayers should own a piece of the pie.
“If microchip companies make a profit from the generous grants they receive from the federal government, the taxpayers of America have a right to a reasonable return on that investment,” Sanders told Fortune.
The subject of this unprecedented convergence is Intel, the struggling chipmaker that received $10.9 billion under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The injection was part of a broader $39 billion subsidy designed to lure semiconductor production away from Asia. The Trump administration is now pushing to exchange some of those grants for government ownership stakes, which rattled markets and sent Intel’s stock plummeting 6% since the announcement.
Intel declined to comment.
Strange bedfellows
The idea was Sanders’ in the first place, he said.
Sanders has long criticized the CHIPS Act as corporate welfare for some of the world’s most profitable technology companies. Back in 2022, he and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) proposed an amendment requiring the Treasury Department to take warrants, equity stakes, or senior debt whenever federal money went to private chipmakers. However, that amendment failed.
Now, three years later, Trump is reviving the idea, and Sanders is applauding.
“I am glad the Trump administration is in agreement with the amendment I offered three years ago,” Sanders said. “Taxpayers should not be providing billions of dollars in corporate welfare to large, profitable corporations like Intel without getting anything in return.”
For Trump, the move represents a dramatic embrace of state intervention in the private sector, a tactic he has increasingly leaned on in his second term. This month, Trump called for Intel’s CEO Lip Bu-Tan’s resignation over past ties to Chinese firms. Earlier this year, the administration struck a deal allowing Nvidia and AMD to sell AI chips to China in exchange for Washington pocketing 15% of the revenues.
It’s an economic strategy that looks less like Reaganism, and more of a mashup between populism and state-capitalism. In that case, Trump and Sanders are two apt representatives for the merging camps.
The White House did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment by press time.
Markets recoil
Investors aren’t thrilled by this new strategy ofpunishing Intel stock for the uncertainty about what government ownership entails for the government. Intel has already been seeking private capital infusions—including a $2 billion injection from Japan’s SoftBank this month—to shore up its balance sheet.
The Commerce Department, led by Secretary Howard Lutnick, is still reviewing how to implement the plan, according to Reuters. But the optics are clear: The United States, it seems, is no longer content to subsidize semiconductor manufacturing without strings attached.
For Sanders, it’s validation; and for Trump it’s a newfound strategy. But for Intel, which was once the undisputed king of U.S. chipmaking, it’s yet another twist in an already turbulent year.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Hence then, the article about bernie sanders and donald trump form an unlikely alliance over billions in chipmaker subsidies was published today ( ) and is available on Fortune ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump form an unlikely alliance over billions in chipmaker subsidies )
Also on site :
- Disgraced former Centinela Valley schools Superintendent Jose Fernandez dies
- Gold Star Distribution Inc., Issues Recall of Certain FDA-Regulated Products in Three States Including Drugs, Devices, Cosmetics, Human Foods, and Pet Foods
- Tyler Perry Sued for Sexual Assault By New Accuser, an Actor in a ‘Madea’ Movie