ISTANBUL

President Donald Trump confirmed that the US “now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL” for nothing, after announcing Friday that the company agreed to give up that portion of the stake.

Trump said earlier at a news conference in the White House that Intel's CEO Lip-Bu Tan agreed to give the stake to the US.

He later said on the Truth social media platform that the US paid nothing for the shares, now valued at approximately $11 billion.

"This is a great Deal for America and, also, a great Deal for INTEL," he said. "Building leading edge Semiconductors and Chips, which is what INTEL does, is fundamental to the future of our Nation."

Trump and Tan met at the White House on Aug. 12 after the US president demanded Tan "immediately" resign for alleged ties to Chinese companies with military connections.

Trump praised Tan's "success and rise" as "an amazing story" following the meeting, calling it "a very interesting one."

On Friday, he said about Tan: "That's right, he should resign. And he came in, he saw me, (and) we talked for a while. I liked him a lot. I thought he was very good."

SoftBank in Japan also purchased $2 billion worth of Intel stock this week.

Intel's share price rose 5.5% as of 2114GMT after Trump's announcement