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Kevin Hassett Explains Intel Equity Deal on CNBC's Squawk Box

August 26, 2025 · TorontoWealthGroup · 0:13:19

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett joined CNBC’s Squawk Box on August 25, 2025 to discuss the U.S. government’s 10% stake in Intel. Asked about the rationale, Hassett said it is not really a taking: the government had decided under the CHIPS Act to give Intel a large amount of money, and President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick discussed Intel’s progress and hurdles with the company, as he recounted it. The deal they worked out, he said, gives Intel the CHIPS money in exchange for equity that is non-voting, so there will be no government intrusion into Intel’s business, according to his description.

Pressed on whether stakes in other subsidized companies — AMD or Taiwan Semiconductor were named by the hosts — would follow, Hassett called the Intel case a very special circumstance because of the scale of CHIPS spending, and described the equity as more like a down payment on a sovereign wealth fund, which he noted many countries have. He said the President has made clear since the campaign that he wants the U.S. to build up a sovereign wealth fund, and that there will likely be more transactions at some point, in this industry or others, as he stated the outlook. The interview also covered Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s Jackson Hole speech and the rate outlook, per the program’s description.

Why it matters

The interview is the administration’s fullest public explanation, at announcement, of the Intel stake’s logic — CHIPS grants converted to non-voting equity and framed as the seed of a sovereign wealth fund — in the words of the President’s chief economic adviser.

Scoreboard watch

Flagged for the scoreboard editor: Hassett’s statements in this August 25, 2025 interview that the Intel equity is non-voting with no government intrusion into the business, and that more sovereign-wealth-fund-style transactions are likely, as stated by him, for checking against the deal documents and subsequent transactions. No verdict is given here.

Sources: TorontoWealthGroup (CNBC Squawk Box interview as aired), “Kevin Hassett on Intel ~ 2025-AUG-25 Monday”, 2025-08-26 (upload, embedded above; published 2025-08-26). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.