What Intel needs is external customers for its 14A manufacturing process - a tough ask, at least in the short term.

The deal is among the largest government interventions in a U.S. company since the rescue of the auto industry after the 2008 financial crisis.

President Donald Trump on Friday announced the U.S. government has secured a 10% stake in struggling Silicon Valley pioneer Intel in a deal completed just a couple weeks after he depicted the company’s CEO as a conflicted leader unfit for the job.