Last month, President Donald Trump announced an unusual deal. Intel, the biggest microchip maker in America, had agreed to give the United States a 10 percent stake in its business. That means the U.S. government is now Intel's largest shareholder — and a major American company is now a partially state-owned enterprise.  This deal has raised a lot of eyebrows. The U.S. government almost never gets tangled up with businesses like this. Some have accused the president of taking a step toward, well, socialism. But the Intel deal didn’t come out of nowhere. It's actually the latest chapter in one of the most aggressive economic experiments the United States has ever attempted. An experiment that Trump is now taking in a surprising new direction.  On today's show, we unpack the Intel deal. Where did it come from, and what does it say about President Trump’s unconventional approach to managing the economy.  For more: - <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/07/25/1256217315/nippon-us-steel-golden-share"target="_blank" >The President's Golden Share in U.S. Steel </a> - <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/06/12/1197959267/graphite-batteries-tariffs-china"target="_blank" >Bringing a tariff to a graphite fight</a>  - <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/23/1197958331/reka-juhasz-industrial-policy-inflation-reduction-act"target="_blank" >A controversial idea at the heart of Bidenomics</a> <a href="https://n.pr/3HlREPz"target="_blank" >Subscribe to Planet Money+</a> Listen free: <a href="http://n.pr/PM-digital"target="_blank" >Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://n.pr/3gTkQlR"target="_blank" >Spotify</a>, <a href="https://n.pr/3Bkb17W"target="_blank" >the NPR app</a> or anywhere you get podcasts. <a href="https://n.pr/3h92GwS"target="_blank" >Facebook</a> / <a href="https://n.pr/3FqLuws"target="_blank" >Instagram</a> / <a href="https://n.pr/3sGZdrq"target="_blank" >TikTok</a> / Our weekly <a href="https://n.pr/3zrFvUB"target="_blank" >Newsletter</a>. This episode was hosted by Jeff Guo and Keith Romer. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Jimmy Keeley with help from Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.   Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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The U.S. now owns a big chunk of Intel. That’s a huge deal.

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