President Donald Trump‘s former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, criticized the federal government’s deal with Intel, one of the largest American manufacturers of semiconductors. [Trump announced in August that his administration is acquiring a 10% stake in Intel.]
Haley, the 2024 GOP presidential candidate who lasted the longest against Trump in the primaries, wrote on social media: “Biden was wrong to subsidize the private sector with the Chips Act using our tax dollars. The counter to Biden is not to lean in and have govt own part of Intel. This will only lead to more government subsidies and less productivity. Intel will become a test case of what not to do.”
Note: The CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in August 2022 by President Biden, authorized roughly $280 billion in new funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors in the United States, for which it appropriates $52.7 billion.
Biden was wrong to subsidize the private sector with the Chips Act using our tax dollars. The counter to Biden is not to lean in and have govt own part of Intel. This will only lead to more government subsidies and less productivity. Intel will become a test case of what not to…
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) August 23, 2025
While Trump said the U.S. is paying “zero” for the $8.9 billion in non-voting Intel shares, according to Intel, “the federal government’s equity stake will be funded by the remaining $5.7 billion in grants previously awarded, but not yet paid, to Intel under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act and $3.2 billion awarded to the company as part of the Secure Enclave program…The $8.9 billion investment is in addition to the $2.2 billion in CHIPS grants Intel has received to date, making for a total investment of $11.1 billion.”
Other conservative Republicans including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-SC) have also spoken out against the U.S.-Intel deal, and compared it to Communism.
Former Republican Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch Network, replied to Haley’s post which failed to mention the President by name: “What was the person’s name who had the government own part of Intel and why are you so afraid to say it?”
Another X user replied to Filipkowski: “Because Nikki Haley is a coward just like the overwhelming majority of Republican politicians.”
What was the person’s name who had the government own part of Intel and why are you so afraid to say it?
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 24, 2025