But Bloomberg and The New York Times have anonymous sources saying Trump’s pick for commerce secretary is encouraging TSMC to do a deal. Bloomberg’s source says TSMC is open to it; The NYT’s sources suggest Intel might be interested too; its board reportedly approached TSMC and its interim chairman reportedly met directly with both TSMC’s CEO and Trump’s people.

And yet, Reuters now reports that Trump is “unlikely” to support a foreign firm operating Intel’s factories. Intel’s CHIPS Act money also came with strings attached that could interfere, but Reuters reports that Trump may be renegotiating those deals.