A sharp rally in Intel shares following a strong earnings report has significantly increased the value of the U.S. government’s stake in the chipmaker.
The government is now sitting on an unrealized gain of დაახლოებით $26.5 billion after Intel (INTC) stock surged more than 22% in premarket trading Friday, fueled by better-than-expected first-quarter results.
The position dates back to an August agreement in which $8.9 billion in CHIPS Act grants and Secure Enclave funding was converted into 433.3 million shares at $20.47 each, giving the government a roughly 9.9% stake. With shares trading near $81.80, the holding is now valued at about $35.4 billion—nearly tripling in less than a year.
In addition to the equity stake, the government holds warrants to acquire an extra 5% stake at $20 per share, which are now deeply in the money.
Intel’s rally was driven by a strong quarterly performance. The company reported first-quarter revenue of $13.6 billion, up 7% year over year and above analyst expectations of $12.4 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at $0.29 per share, far exceeding forecasts for a slight loss.
Growth was led by Intel’s Data Center and AI segment, which jumped 22% to $5.1 billion, reflecting rising demand tied to AI infrastructure expansion.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan highlighted a shift toward inference and agentic AI workloads, noting that the trend is significantly boosting demand for Intel’s CPUs.
Looking ahead, Intel expects second-quarter revenue to range between $13.8 billion and $14.8 billion.
