The U.S. has always tied the success of its companies to the success of the country to some degree. Last week, President Donald Trump made a literal connection between the two, brokering a deal for the U.S. to take a 10% stake in chipmaker Intel. With this deal, the federal government will be the third-largest stakeholder in the publicly traded company, with its 10% share only behind a pair of 13% stakes held by Blackrock and Vanguard. Intel had been promised close to $11 billion to support its manufacturing facilities through former President Joe Biden’s CHIPS Act. The equity stake is being cast as a redirection of those funds.

While there is precedent for the government taking a stake in private companies, it’s generally only happened in times of widely recognized crisis. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. Treasury received stock warrants to prop up struggling commercial airlines—which were sold at an auction last year. During the Great Recession, the federal government purchased assets from failing banks to prevent a collapse of the financial system. And during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency during the Great Depression, the federal government provided financial support for banks, railroads and other companies in danger of collapse.

Intel, which was one of the world’s hottest companies during the PC boom in the ‘90s, has had a relatively slow spell, but it’s nowhere near the point of imminent collapse. CEO Lip-Bu Tan has been working to reinvigorate and refocus the chip maker since he took the helm in March, laying off employees, slowing down new facilities, and focusing on finding customers before increasing manufacturing capacity.

Many policymakers and economists criticized Trump’s decision, saying it exposed the government to market risk, takes a step toward state-controlled industry and socialism, and is bringing unprecedented government intrusion into business. Trump dismissed those critics as “stupid,” and promised to make more deals like the one with Intel. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick identified defense contractor Lockheed Martin as a potential recipient in a Tuesday morning interview with CNBC.

This is only the latest example of Trump’s involvement in the business sector. In June, he allowed Nippon Steel’s merger with U.S. Steel to proceed by claiming a “golden share” in the business, giving the federal government special powers over how the U.S. part of the company is run. Last month, the Defense Department became the largest shareholder in rare earth mining company MP Materials. And a deal he made with Nvidia and AMD to pay the U.S. government 15% of their revenue from chip sales to China came to light earlier this month.

It’s clear that Trump does not follow a traditional governing playbook, but the administration’s heavier hand in business operations could impact both corporate bottom lines and the economy as a whole going forward. With other factors at play—including tariffs, interest rates, currency values and a potentially volatile stock market—the next three and a half years will be interesting for corporate finance.

In today’s world, there are many things competing for the CFO’s attention, and it can be difficult to prioritize. I talked to Chris Sands, InvoiceCloud CFO, about how he drowns out the noise of........

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