Uncle Sam shouldn't own Intel stock

Didn't we already cross this particular Rubicon during the auto bailout a decade ago?

Other examples:

> Since the 1950s, the federal government has stepped in as a backstop for railroads, farm credit, airlines (twice), automotive companies, savings and loan companies, banks, and farmers.

Every situation has its own idiosyncrasies, but in each, the federal government intervened to stabilize a critical industry, avoiding systemic collapse that surely would have left the average taxpayer much worse off. In some instances, the treasury guaranteed loans, meaning that creditors would not suffer if the relevant industry could not generate sufficient revenue to pay back the loans, leading to less onerous interest rates.

A second option was that the government would provide loans at relatively low interest rates to ensure that industries remained solvent.

In a third option, the United States Treasury would take an ownership stake in some of these companies in what amounts to an “at-the-market” offering, in which the companies involved issue more shares at their current market price to the government in exchange for cash to continue business operations.

https://chicagopolicyreview.org/2022/08/23/piece-of-the-acti...

Yes, but no. The bailout was companies that were headed for bankruptcy. Is Intel? My impression is that they're a lot further from it than GM and Chrysler were.

Intel, the CPU (and GPU) designer is doing fine.

Intel the advanced IC manufacturer is worth effectively nothing right now.

If they can prove a successful advanced manufacturing process and start making chips on it that will likely reverse fairly quickly, but it's been a decade since they held fab leadership.

Perhaps the government should have required Intel be split into a fab business and a chip design business (as Intel has planned to do itself but hasn't been able to, for reasons). The chip design part can survive on its own without subsidies. Then the government can pump money into the fab business for national security reasons without affecting the chip design market too much.