Trump Scores Better Than Warren Buffett On This Metric, Says Investor Chamath Palihapitiya: President's Intel Deal An 'Incredible Win'

Investor Chamath Palihapitiya praised President Donald Trump’s recent deal with Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC), calling it an “incredible” win for American taxpayers.‘Incredible’ Upside For American TaxpayersOn Thursday, in a post on X, Palihapitiya said Trump “got Intel to give Team America 10% of itself at $0,” referring to the federal government under Trump acquiring a 10% equity stake in the chipmaker, which he calls “an insane negotiation.” However, contrary to Palihapitiya’s claims, the federal government’s investment in the company is not “$0,” but involves converting previously awarded grants worth $8.9 billion into an equity stake in the company. He said that the deal ensures “all of this upside accrues to American taxpayers”, which he said was “incredible,” especially since the government did not invest any additional money into the company, and merely converted previously unspent CHIPS Act funds into an equity stake.With shares of Intel up by over 50% since the government’s acquisition, Palihapitiya compared Trump’s track record with that of Warren Buffett. “Trump now has a better IRR than Buffett,” he said, noting that this was now “mathematically true.”Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK) (NYSE:BRK) has generated a compounded annual growth rate of 19% to 20% since 1965.Intel Shares Continue To RallyIntel shares have surged over the past month amid CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s aggressive pursuit of partnerships, investments and collaborations to turn around the chipmaker. It was reported last week that Tan had reached out to both Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (NYSE:TSM) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to discuss potential joint ventures and collaborations. The company is also involved in early discussions with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) to become a foundry customer. This comes just weeks after Japan’s Softbank Group Corp. (OTC:SFTBY) invested $2 billion in the company, in coordination with the White House, followed by NVIDIA Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) $5 billion investment. On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt highlighted the 50% rally in Intel’s shares, calling Trump’s decision to invest in the company “genius,” in a post on X. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan Backs $24M Corintis Board As Startup Solves AI’s Biggest Bottleneck Problem Photo: Tada Images / Shutterstock