WSJ What’s News - What’s Behind Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

P.M. Edition for Sept. 18. Nvidia announced a $5 billion investment in beleaguered chip maker Intel. WSJ tech policy reporter Amrith Ramkumar discusses what Nvidia hopes to get from the partnership, and whether it’s enough to reverse Intel’s falling fortunes. Plus, the Trump administration has made an emergency request to the Supreme Court to allow it to remove Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. We hear from Journal legal affairs reporter Lydia Wheeler about how this might play out before the next Fed meeting in late October. And American Express is raising the annual fee on its Platinum credit card to $895. Personal economics reporter Imani Moise talks about whether that price tag might be worth it to affluent clients. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. What's driving invidia's planned $5 billion investment in Intel? The timing is fascinating because tomorrow morning, President Trump and she and China are chatting

about the future of TikTok and expected to finalize that agreement and trade talks between the U.S. and China are really heating up and NVIDIA is a huge part of that. Plus, the Trump administration asks the Supreme Court to let it remove Fed government, Lisa Cook. And how American Express is revamping its platinum card to attract big spenders. It's Thursday, September 18th. I'm Alex Oscella for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. Shares in Intel were up more than 20% today, after NVIDIA said it would invest $5 billion

in the company's shares at a discount to yesterday. the partnership between the world's most valuable company and a chipmaker that has fallen behind rivals centers on making CPUs, central processing units, the computer brains that power devices from smartphones and laptops to automobiles. The move comes a month after the U.S. government said it was taking a 10% stake in Intel. For more, I'm joined now by WS.J Tech policy reporter Amrith Ram Kumar. Amrith, what does Invidia get out of this? There are a few things. First, important to note the relationship with the Trump administration and context there. At this moment, Jensen Huang and Vida's CEO really wants the Trump

administration to allow exports of one of their chips to China. Basically, a chip built on their black oil architecture that would be more advanced than the predecessor they were trying to sell to the Chinese market. And Jensen has been one of Trump's BFFs in this administration and is one of the people trying to do everything you can to get into his good graces. So with the context that the government just did a big deal for Intel and is trying to rally private sector support to some degree, this could go a long ways to doing that.

There are other business reasons for Nvidia to do this as well. The company is dominant in graphics processing units for data centers needed to train AI models. That's what everyone knows them for. But they do have areas they can always improve and collaborations like this one with Intel for CPUs, the brains of these devices can allow them to get into the high-end PC market. For example, people have said the talks were happening for a long time.

But the timing is fascinating because tomorrow morning, President Trump and Xi and China are chatting about the future of TikTok and expected to finalize that agreement and trade talks between the U.S. and China are really heating up and NVIDIA is a huge part of that. What does all of this also mean for Intel? I mean, especially given its years of challenges and recent investment from the U.S. government and SoftBank. Yeah, people are saying it's sort of another step in the right direction for Intel, but it's not clear how big of a step that will be. The bigger thing is the business partnership, the idea that in this area where it's one of the few areas where Intel has some success, this high-end PC market, for example, and this X-86 architecture, the idea that Invidio wants to partner with them on that, is just a huge boost because everyone views NVIDIA as the gold standard across the board.

It's still unclear how much this will make a difference because one of the core problems for Intel is that there's not much demand for its foundry business. That's the one where it's supposed to be manufacturing the chips. That's the thing that the Trump administration cares about. And this deal doesn't really appear to help with that. So definitely a short-term boost, but maybe not as much of a long-term boon unless there are other things. That was WSJ Tech Policy Reporter. Amrith Ramkumar.

Thank you, Amrith. Thanks for having me. The Nvidia Intel deal added fuel to the tech rally in the U.S. markets with all indexes closing at record highs. The NASDAQ added about 0.9%. The S&P 500 was up about half a percent, and the Dow rose 0.3%. The Conference Board's leading economic index fell half a percent to 98.4. in August. That's its largest decline since April, and a bigger drop than economists expected. It's another sign that the U.S. economy appears to be slowing amid growing concerns about the labor

market, headwinds from tariffs, and a weak manufacturing sector. Separately, new data from the Labor Department out today showed that the number of Americans who newly filed for unemployment benefits declined sharply last week, falling to 231,000, down from an upwardly revised 264,000 a week earlier. Last week's numbers returned the figures to the previous trend after a large spike the week before. The Trump administration has filed an emergency request asking the Supreme Court to let it remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from the central bank's board, while a lawsuit challenging the president's effort to fire her proceeds. Lydia Wheeler is a legal affairs reporter in the Wall Street Journal,

's Washington, D.C. Bureau and is here now with more. Lydia, earlier this week, a federal appeals court rejected the administration's bid to remove Cook ahead of the Fed's most recent meeting. What is its argument now to the Supreme Court? What is it going after? So the Trump administration is arguing that the president has the legal authority to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board. When President Trump announced that he was firing Lisa Cook. He cited allegations that she submitted fraudulent information on her mortgage applications to obtain more favorable lending terms before taking office. Those allegations were referred to the Justice Department, which has since launched an investigation. Lisa Cook so far has not been

charged with any crime, but the president, regardless, is claiming that, hey, this makes it seem like she isn't qualified for this position and can't be trusted on the board and needs to be removed. Solicitor General John Sauer, who is the Trump administration's Supreme Court lawyer, said that the president can reasonably determine that interest rates paid for by the American people should not be set by a governor who appears to have lied about facts material to interest rates that she's secured for herself. And what has Cook's side said about this? So Lisa Cook has said that she has never committed mortgage fraud. Lisa Cook's attorneys didn't immediately respond to the president's request to the Supreme Court here. Lisa Cook, in her lawsuit,

is arguing that President Trump concocted a reason to fire her, basically to vacate a seat on the Fed board that he can then fill to undermine the central bank's independence. The next Fed meeting is October 28th and 29th. Does it seem likely that there's going to be a decision before then? Potentially. So we could get a really quick interim order from the court that's known as an administrative stay. And this basically lets Trump immediately remove Lisa Cook from the Fed while the full Supreme Court kind of considers what to do with this request and considers whether or not to keep her off the board

while litigation proceeds over her firing. That was WSJ Legal Affairs Reporter, Lydia Wheeler. Thank you, Lydia. Thank you so much. Coming up, YAMX is raising the fee for its platinum card. That's after the break. Oh, this is it, the day you finally ask for that big promotion. You're in front of your mirror with your Starbucks coffee.

Be confident. Assertive. Remember eye contact, but also remember to blink. Smile, but not too much. That's weird. What if you aren't any good at your job? What if they dim out you instead? Okay, don't be silly.

You're smart. You're driven. You're going to be late if you keep you. Keep talking to the mirror. This promotion is yours. Go get them. Starbucks. It's never just coffee.

American Express is raising the annual fee on its platinum credit card to $895 from $695. The company said the card will now come with more than $3,500 in annual benefits, including credits of $400 for restaurants and $600 for hotels. It previously offered $1,500. in rewards. It's the latest move in credit card issuers battle for affluent cardholders. Imani Moise covers personal economics for the journal and joins me now. Amani, why are credit card companies and MX in particular going after these wealthy customers? The top 10% of earners are driving a disproportionate amount of spending and economic growth. People with more money spend more money.

And the way that these credit cards work is that the credit card companies get a fee, a small percentage of every transaction. So if your customer is someone who's spending a lot, as the card issuer, you're going to be earning a lot. What is Amex offering these customers? Well, you mentioned some of the credits. So the $400 back on reservations and hotels, there's also airport lounge access, which is a very sought-after perk. But there are some perks that may be harder to use. Like one that stuck out to me was a $300 Lulu Lemon credit that's doled out quarterly. So if you buy a new pair of leggings every quarter, that would be really helpful for you.

But if that's not your fashion style, then maybe that one goes unused. I understand that exclusivity plays a role in what makes these cards appealing to customers. One of the most exclusive perks would be those airport lounges. If you've been to an airport recently, you've probably seen a very long line outside of the airport lounge because so many people want to get in. It's just a recipe. You get free food, free drinks. And people just like to be seen as having access.

to something that other people don't. The card touts all of these benefits and rewards. Do people actually use these? Most of the time, no. And that might be something that card issuers are counting on. Some people compare it to a gym membership where everybody pays their dues, but not everybody shows up. And whether or not you show up, the gym membership, or in this case, the credit card company, is still earning that fee regardless. So it could be a win-win for the card companies. That was WSJ Personal Economics Reporter, Imani Moise. Thanks, Amani. Thank you. And President Trump has wrapped up his state visit to the U.K.

After two days of regal ceremonies, President Trump and British Prime Minister Kier-Starmer signed a tech partnership agreement that is predicted to result in $340 billion of investment on both sides of the Atlantic. In a press conference, they also tiptoed around their biggest differences on several thorny issues, including Palestinian statehood, immigration, energy policy, free speech, and the removal of the U.K.'s Washington ambassador over his past friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. In response to a reporter question about the war in Ukraine, President Trump reiterated that Europe would have to stop buying Russian oil to stop the conflict. I'm willing to do other things, but not when the people that I'm fighting for are buying oil from Russia.

If the oil price comes down, very simply, Russia will settle. And the oil price is way down. You know, we got it way down. we're drilling and we produce more oil than anybody else in the world. We're doing a lot. But I was disappointed to see that. And the prime minister was disappointed to see that. And it wasn't him. It was other countries. The visit success underscores how Britain seems to have perfected the art of managing Trump. But despite the good vibes, the meeting yielded little in terms of tariffs or foreign policy

breakthroughs. And that's what's news for this Thursday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Pierre Bienname and Rodney Davis, with Supervising producer Michael Cosmides. I'm Alex Oscella for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.