The U.S. government could take stakes in other companies after doing so with chipmaker Intel, Donald Trump's top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Monday -- with the president himself expressing hope to have more cases like it.
Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, cited Trump's plans for a sovereign wealth fund in a CNBC interview, saying "I'm sure that at some point there'll be more transactions" in the semiconductor industry or others.
He was responding to a question on whether a recently announced deal for the U.S. government to take a 10-percent equity stake in Intel was the start of broader efforts towards similar moves in other industries that authorities have been funding.
"I hope I'm going to have many more cases like it," Trump told reporters separately. "There will be other cases. If I have that opportunity again, I would do that."
Under the agreement with Intel, the U.S. government will receive 433.3 million shares of common stock, representing a 9.9-percent stake in the company, Intel said in an earlier statement.
This amounts to an $8.9 billion investment, funded partially by $5.7 billion in grants awarded but not yet paid under the CHIPS and Science Act -- a major law passed under former president Joe Biden, which Trump has criticized. The other portion comes from a different award.
Hassett said Monday that "the federal government has been giving money away" to companies.
He maintained that under potential deals like that with Intel, "these are going to be shares that don't have voting rights," adding that the government plans to stay out of how companies are run.