In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday evening, Lutnick specifically named Intel and said, “We should get an equity stake for our money…which was already committed under the Biden administration.”

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday the government wanted an equity stake in Intel in exchange for cash grants approved during the administration of former President Joe Biden.

"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.

President Donald Trump wants the U.S. government to own a piece of Intel, less than two weeks after demanding the Silicon Valley pioneer dump the CEO that was hired to turn around the slumping chipma...

While the government has sometimes taken temporary stakes during crises — such as the 2008 financial bailout — a similar move in peacetime for a tech giant would be virtually unprecedented.