The good appears to outweigh the bad at this early stage.

On Friday, Aug. 22, the Trump administration announced that the U.S. government would be converting $8.87 billion in CHIPS Act grant money that had been awarded to Intel ( INTC -2.33% ) into equity in the company. The government will receive just over 433 million shares at $20.47, good for about 8.85% of Intel when factoring in another recent investment by Japanese tech giant Softbank ( SFTB.Y -1.86% ) .

Needless to say, it's unusual for the U.S. government to take a stake in a major company; it's the type of thing one may find common in other countries, but typically not in the USA, the center of "free market capitalism."

Leaving out the philosophical issue of how much government should be involved in the private

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