Donald Trump buying stake in Jensen Huang's Nvidia after Intel? Scott Bessent says ‘that seems…’

The Donald Trump administration in the US has no plans of buying a stake in Jensen Huang's chipmaking major Nvidia, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday.

In an interview on Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria" TV show, the US leader was asked, “Would the president consider taking a stake in Nvidia?”

To this, he replied in negative.

“I don't think Nvidia needs financial support, so that seems not on the table right now,” the US Treasury Secretary said.

However, Scott Bessent hinted that the Trump administration could invest in other industries.

“Could there be other industries where that we are reshaping, something like ship building? Sure, there could be things like that and these are critical industries that have to be self-sufficient in the United States,” he said.

“I don't know if we need to take stakes in defense companies. We'll see whether the defense companies are fulfilling their mission in terms of providing adequate and timely deliveries for the US military as opposed to maybe an overemphasis on the shareholders,” Bessent added.

Trump takes nearly 10% Intel stake

On August 22, US President Donald Trump sealed a deal that will give the US government a nearly 10 per cent stake in Intel, the company said in a statement.

The US is investing $8.9 billion to acquire the stake in Intel. Together with the $2.2 billion in Chips Act money that Intel already received, the investment totaled $11.1 billion.

The unconventional US-Intel deal comes at a backdrop of the company's recent struggle and the government's interest to reinvigorate it and boost domestic chip manufacturing.

Under the agreement, the US will receive 433.3 million shares of common stock — representing 9.9 per cent of the fully diluted common shares in Intel, the chipmaking major said in a statement.

The Intel investment will be funded by grants from the US Chips and Science Act and Secure Enclave programme, which was earlier extended but not yet paid, the company added.

Donald Trump described the transaction as a “great Deal for America and, also, a great Deal for INTEL.”

“Building leading edge Semiconductors and Chips, which is what INTEL does, is fundamental to the future of our Nation,” he said.

Nvidia stock price today

Shares of as Nvidia slipped 0.5 per cent on the Wall Street after Bessent's remarks, as investors waited for the quarterly results of the chipmaking giant.

The S&P 500 Index was down 0.1 per cent, as of 9:35 a.m. in New York, after notching gains in only two of the past eight sessions. The benchmark sits just 0.2 per cent from a record. The Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0.1 per cent. A basket tracking the Magnificent Seven stocks including Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., was flat.