Government subsidies take a variety of forms: tax credits, abatements, training reimbursements and direct grants.

Ranked: Companies Receiving the Most Government Subsidies

Over the last quarter of a century Boeing has received nearly $16 billion in government subsidies, putting it at the top of this list.

Most of the subsidies have come from Washington State, which has nine preferential tax rates that benefit the aerospace industry.

Boeing has an assembly plant in the city of Everett—reportedly the largest manufacturing facility in the world—where it makes the 747, 767, 777, and the 787 airplanes.

There's more to this Boeing story—but we cover that in the next section.

Ranked second, Intel's received more than $8 billion from the government since 2000.

But this doesn't include some critical CHIPS Act funding that's just been greenlit for the company. Another $7.9 billion is on the way from the Biden Administration that's keen to secure the American semiconductor supply chain.

For context, Intel both designs and manufactures chips (unlike say, Nvidia and Apple) but its foundry business has been in trouble for a while, leading to job cuts and restructuring.

This new federal lifeline comes with a caveat: no stock buybacks.