Taking to his Truth Social platform, President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself successfully trading Intel stock on a triple-monitor setup while sitting inside the White House with the sun glistening on him. It's essential to remember that the goal was not for the state to enrich its coffers through day trading, but rather to ensure that U.S. soil remains the place where the world's best chips are made.
A few weeks ago, the U.S. Government purchased a 10% stake in Intel, an unprecedented move that is bound to shake up economic charts around the world. Intel has been struggling financially for a while, but it remains a homegrown American company and represents the United States' opportunity to lead the semiconductor industry. Intel was already receiving grants via the CHIPS Act to bolster local chipmaking, so the remaining handouts from that, combined with an equity investment in common stock, resulted in the White House now owning 10% of Intel. This investment appears to have been so lucrative that President Trump felt compelled to showcase it on social media.
In the picture, the monitor on the far left shows shares bought at $20, which is actually accurate since the real-life purchase occurred at $20.47 per share. The monitor on the far right then shows a massive uptick, with the share apparently sold at $30. That's also somehow accurate, as Intel stock hit $30 a couple of days ago for the first time in three years. Of course, the government didn’t sell its stake when that occurred, so perhaps it’s more of a personal achievement that President Trump is showcasing.
The mandatory disclaimer follows: this is not financial advice, but President Trump might influence investors and, more crucially, uninformed people around the country to buy Intel shares and HODL. Not to veer into whole tin-foil-hat territory, but any future investments that the White House makes could then become indicative of a seismic market shift, creating a bullish sentiment that pushes people to stock up (no pun intended) on equity in these firms. After all, what could be safer than following your own President’s lead?
Intel’s liquidity and image have been on the rise since this investment, especially now that Nvidia has also purchased $5 billion worth of equity in the company and announced development on various collaborative projects. Chief among these is the Intel x86 RTX SoC, which will see the two chipmakers utilize each other’s CPU and GPU chiplets to create new high-performance processors.
Ironically enough, Intel stock crept up to break the $30 barrier — posting its best day in 38 years — because of this announcement, not the U.S. Government’s. Even so, that $10 billion deal is already worth $13 billion as a result.
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