The White House confirmed on Tuesday that the Trump administration is working on a deal that could see the US government taking a 10% stake in chip giant Intel. "The president wants to put America's needs first, both from a national security and economic perspective," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed discussions between the US and Intel Corp. for the government to take a stake in the chipmaker, casting the plan as a bid to convert Chips and Science Act grants into equity.

But is taking an equity stake in Intel the preferred path to expanding domestic chip production? Intel has two major businesses: a products business, where it sells chips to customers, and a foundry,