Shares of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) are falling on Tuesday. The stock lost 4.1% as of 12:20 p.m. ET, but was down as much as 6.2% earlier in the day. The drop comes as the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) slipped 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC) lost 1.4%.
Intel saw its shares fall in the midst of escalating trade tensions, as well as news that officials had no knowledge of a possible deal with Taiwan Semiconductor that had helped boost Intel's stock earlier in the month.
Taiwan is in the dark
The chipmaker , which has struggled to keep pace with rivals in the all-important artificial intelligence (AI) market, has been at the center of several possible deals that could transform the company. Chief among these is a deal that would see Intel's manufacturing arm spun off into a separate entity overseen by the world's leading fabricator, Taiwan Semiconductor.
However, today, the Taiwanese economy minister told reporters that he had not received any information about a deal. TSMC would need approval from his office to move forward.
The news calls into question how real the rumored deal is, sending shares lower.
Chip controls
The uncertainty that the Taiwanese economy minister's comments brought came as the Trump administration reiterated its intention to further restrict chip exports to China. China is Intel's biggest market -- the company did more than $15 billion in sales there last year. A material drop in revenue from the Chinese market could seriously hurt an already-struggling Intel.
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