Bernie Sanders Backs Trump’s Bold Plan on Chipmaker Stakes

Here’s a political twist you don’t see every day: Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are on the same page. Yep, the senator from Vermont is backing the president’s idea to turn billions in government chip subsidies into actual ownership stakes in the companies getting the money.

On Wednesday, Sanders said it loud and clear: if chip giants like Intel are going to rake in profits off the back of taxpayer-funded grants, then the taxpayers deserve a piece of the pie. Hard to argue with that logic.

This all goes back to the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which set aside $39 billion to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States and reduce dependence on Asia. So far, companies like Micron, TSMC, Samsung, and Intel have lined up for the cash, but a lot of the funds still haven’t been handed out.

Now, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is exploring deals where the government gets equity stakes in exchange for the subsidies. That means if the companies do well, so does the taxpayer.

Sanders has been pushing this kind of condition for years, with support from Senator Elizabeth Warren. The surprise is that Trump has jumped on board, despite usually blasting anything that sounds like government meddling. Since his return to the White House, Trump has actually leaned into state intervention — striking deals for government “golden shares,” demanding veto rights in corporate takeovers, and even negotiating revenue cuts from Nvidia and AMD’s sales to China.

Sanders is calling it a long-overdue win for common sense:

“Taxpayers shouldn’t be giving out corporate welfare without getting something back.”

Trump’s especially focused on Intel, which just got a $10.9 billion subsidy package. He sees ramping up domestic chip production as key to beating China in the AI race. Recently, he even called for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign over old ties to Chinese tech firms, though the tension cooled after Tan made a loyalty pledge in person at the White House.

Meanwhile, Intel is still scrambling for investors, pulling in $2 billion from SoftBank and reportedly shopping for more equity deals. But Wall Street isn’t loving the uncertainty — Intel shares dropped over 7 percent on Wednesday.

Bottom line? This is rare bipartisanship in action, but also a reminder that the line between capitalism and state intervention is getting blurrier by the day.