The White House confirmed on Tuesday that the Trump administration is working on a deal that could see the US government taking a 10% stake in chip giant Intel. "The president wants to put America's needs first, both from a national security and economic perspective," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

The investment will make SoftBank Intel’s fifth biggest investor, with the conglomerate paying $23 per share of Intel common stock. Lip-Bu Tan, Intel’s CEO, said in a statement that he “appreciate (s) the confidence (SoftBank) has placed in Intel with this investment.”

Intel is getting a $2 billion investment in common stock from SoftBank, which is betting big on the AI revolution.

Shares in the chip maker rose following news of SoftBank’s planned investment and a possible stake for the U.S. government.

The US government is in discussions to potentially take a partial ownership stake in Intel, according to an Aug. 18 report by Bloomberg. The deal could help accelerate the construction of Intel’s long-delayed semiconductor manufacturing plant in Ohio.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed discussions between the US and Intel Corp. for the government to take a stake in the chipmaker, casting the plan as a bid to convert Chips and Science Act grants into equity.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Liberal U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Wednesday threw his support behind Republican President Donald Trump's plan to convert up to $10.9 billion in U.S. grants for Intel into a government stake in the company.