Trump Floats US Government Stake in AI Labs
In a TIME interview, Donald Trump floated a government stake in AI labs like OpenAI, citing the 2025 Intel deal. Here is what is confirmed and what is rumor.
In a TIME interview, the US president rejected nationalization but suggested taking equity in frontier labs, pointing to the 2025 Intel deal.
In an Oval Office interview published by TIME on October 1, 2026, Donald Trump floated a government stake in AI labs such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Asked by reporters Eric Cortellessa and Sam Jacobs about nationalizing the sector, Trump dismissed traditional state ownership. Instead, he pointed to his 2025 arrangement with Intel, where Washington swapped federal subsidies for corporate equity. Asked if he would copy that approach with artificial intelligence labs, Trump answered directly: “I might. Maybe I could do that.”
The Intel model for a government stake in AI
To defend the idea, Trump pointed to the agreement finalized on August 22, 2025, between the White House and Intel. Under that contract, the federal government acquired a 9.9% passive stake in the chipmaker. Trump described the transaction during the interview as leverage won at zero cost to taxpayers, recalling his message to the company: “I said, ‘I’ll solve the problem, but I want—not me, the United States of America—to have 10% of your company.’”
In the same interview, Trump claimed the transaction generated $60 billion to $70 billion in profit for the US Treasury, calling Intel “the hottest stock there is, just about.” That math does not survive scrutiny. Official filings show Washington converted $8.9 billion in outstanding federal subsidies—$5.7 billion from the CHIPS Act and $3.2 billion from the Secure Enclave program—into 433.3 million common shares priced at $20.47 each. For a 9.9% holding to produce $60 billion in net profit, Intel’s valuation would need to sit near $700 billion. The company trades nowhere near that level.
Washington’s transactional playbook
The remarks fit a broader pattern Trump laid out to TIME, describing the United States as a commercial enterprise that should extract direct financial returns for federal help. During the discussion, Trump also brought up export controls on Nvidia, recounting a conversation with CEO Jensen Huang: “I told Jensen that a chip that he’s not allowed to sell, which I think is okay to sell, but I won’t let him sell it unless he gave the United States of America a cut.”
In artificial intelligence, this framework swaps conventional regulatory oversight for case-by-case corporate bargaining. Instead of relying on safety standards or statutory mandates, the administration treats federal permits, grid access, and national security clearances as chips to negotiate equity or revenue splits.
Pressure on frontier labs
For AI companies, the interview signals sharper political scrutiny. Training frontier models requires billions of dollars in specialized silicon, power contracts, and datacenter buildouts. As labs lobby Washington for energy permits and federal infrastructure support, the White House is making clear that assistance could carry equity conditions.
Direct state ownership would change corporate governance in tech. Even structured as non-voting shares, similar to the Intel arrangement, a federal position on the cap table ties product decisions and capital expenditure directly to shifting political priorities in Washington.
What is confirmed and what remains RUMOR
Trump’s comments to TIME are confirmed in the magazine’s published interview transcript. The 9.9% stake in Intel from August 2025 is also a matter of public record across corporate disclosures and federal filings.
There is no formal proposal or executive order to acquire shares in AI startups. Trump’s remarks were speculative answers during an interview, not active policy. RUMOR: formal negotiations between the White House and OpenAI or Anthropic to acquire equity. Anthropic has denied holding equity talks with the government, and earlier market chatter about OpenAI considering state equity never produced an agreement.
Sources
Press
- TIME Magazine, Read TIME’s ‘What Trump Has Built’ Interview Transcript, October 1, 2026
- The Next Web, Trump tells TIME the US might take stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic, October 1, 2026
- Reuters, US to take 10% equity stake in Intel, August 22, 2025
Official