The state obtained 10% of the chipmaker’s stock in 2025, near its lowest valuation in over a decade.
The US government has gained an estimated $27 billion in paper profit from its Intel investment as the chipmaker’s shares have more than doubled since the beginning of this year alone.
Intel shares jumped more than 20% on Friday after the company reported better-than-expected results. The Silicon Valley firm revealed on Thursday that it generated $13.6 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, up 7% year-on-year and above forecasts.
The results, along with a stronger outlook for the next quarter, put Intel on track for one of its biggest single-day gains in decades. The stock was trading at $82.50, up about 125% since the start of the year, making it one of the top performers in the S&P 500, helping lift the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, and nearing levels last seen during the dot-com boom.
The rally has significantly increased the value of the US government’s stake in Intel. The state acquired a roughly 10% stake in the company in August 2025, purchasing about 433 million shares at around $20.47 per share as part of efforts to expand domestic chip production amid national security concerns and AI competition with China.
“The next wave of AI will bring intelligence closer to the end user, moving from foundational models to inference to agentic. This shift is significantly increasing the need for Intel’s CPUs, wafers, and advanced packaging offerings,” said CEO Lip-Bu Tan.
Intel’s rebound follows a steep decline in 2024, when its shares plunged 60% to less than $19 in their worst year on record, alongside leadership changes including the departure of then-CEO Pat Gelsinger.
Image credit: Rubaitul Azad
