Weak PC sales, driven partly by AI-fueled memory price spikes, are hammering Intel's share price and the U.S. government's equity position.
Intel shares dropped sharply, erasing roughly $12 billion in value from the U.S. government's stake in the company. The decline is tied to softening PC demand as rising memory and component prices — driven by the AI industry's appetite for the same supply chain — push PC prices higher.
The result is an uncomfortable irony: the AI boom that's supposed to be lifting the chip sector is simultaneously squeezing one of its most strategically important players.
Component scarcity from AI demand is now a direct tax on adjacent hardware markets, and governments with equity stakes in chipmakers are exposed to that volatility. Leaders in hardware-dependent businesses should model AI-driven supply shocks as an ongoing cost line, not a one-off.
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