August 30, 2025
Intel Ends Partnership With HBCU After U.S. Takes Stake In Tech Giant
Intel ended a partnership with North Carolina Central University's law school aimed at developing a pipeline for diverse recruits through the university's Technology Law and Policy Center.
The first impact of a deal between chip manufacturer Intel and the Trump administration, which some economists and conservatives have criticized as potentially affecting free enterprise, is the suspension of an existing partnership with North Carolina Central University’s law school aimed at developing a pipeline for diverse recruits through the university’s Technology Law and Policy Center.
According to CBS News, Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, indicated that this deal is potentially the first of many in his comments to reporters, an indication that set off the alarm bells for economists and conservatives alike. Under the agreement, the U.S. will now own stock in Intel.
As Michael Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, told the outlet, although the Trump administration’s goal isn’t yet clear, “There are major risks to these companies. A lot of the things that companies need to do in order to stay competitive in the market are politically unpopular,” such as layoffs. “It’s going to be a lot harder for these companies to engage in those painful but necessary moves if the president feels like they would create a political vulnerability for him.”
He added, “This is also going to accrue to the detriment of the American people, because you’re going to see a lot of good taxpayer money chasing bad investments … and more generally, countries that have gone down this route have had slower productivity growth, slower increases in living standards, and companies that are less likely to be industry leaders.”
Bloomberg Law noted in its reporting that although the university noted that Intel has provided the “final round of funding” for the initiative, the formal end of the program is in line with deals the government has brokered between Skydance Media and Paramount, Verizon and Frontier Communications, and T-Mobile’s ongoing bid to acquire two smaller companies.
Intel, for its part, per its sources, has already been working to reduce its reliance on DEI, despite rounds of layoffs and retirements rendering the company in desperate need of new blood, which was to be provided by the program at NCCU.
However, according to those sources, due to Intel’s continued financial struggles, the price tag of $1 million per year to maintain the partnership with the university was seen by the organization as untenable, despite the commitment the chip manufacturer made in 2021 to foster a more inclusive work environment.
As the company noted in a press release that year, HBCUs continue to provide an outsized number of Black lawyers relative to their sizes, a major reason for creating the initiative in the first place, as well as part of its larger efforts to address social justice and racism in America, which they dubbed the Intel Rule.
Now, the Intel Rule, the pipeline, and the executives responsible for creating both are gone, and the federal government, due in part to its aggressive stance against DEI, may have shackled itself to an albatross that may prove difficult to disentangle itself from.
As Scott Lincicome, a leading economic and trade policy expert as well as vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute, warned in an op-ed for The Washington Post, the deal with Intel “marks a dangerous turn in American industrial policy.”
He continued, “There are also risks for Intel’s U.S.-based competitors, who might find themselves at a disadvantage when vying for government contracts or subsidies, winning trade or tax relief, or complying with federal regulations. Private capital might in turn flow to Intel (and away from innovation leaders in the semiconductor ecosystem) not for economic reasons, but because Uncle Sam now has a thumb on the scale.”
Lincicome closed his comments, calling on Congress to stand up to the executive branch, but wryly mused that maybe it has lost its appetite for reigning in the executive branch.
“Congress should recognize this dangerous trajectory and reject the Intel deal before government ownership becomes the norm in strategic American industries and U.S. economic leadership is lost. Or is it too late for Congress to stand up to this White House?” Lincicome wrote.
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