The presidential office has denied a foreign media report suggesting the Donald Trump administration is looking to obtain stakes in chip manufacturers that receive CHIPS Act funding to build factories in the U.S., including Samsung Electronics.

At a press briefing Thursday, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said the Reuters report that Washington is seeking to obtain stakes in such companies in exchange for U.S. government subsidies, similar to the case of Intel, is “groundless.”

The spokesperson said the South Korean businesses have yet to receive any such subsidies or official notice of any such plans.

Kang said it can be surmised that various rumors were circulated ahead of the negotiations as leverage for Washington.

Citing a White House official and a person familiar with the situation on Tuesday, Reuters said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick is exploring how the U.S. can acquire equity stakes in Samsung Electronics, Micron and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC.

The report followed an announcement from the Trump administration that it is moving to take a ten percent equity stake in Intel.