Japanese conglomerate Softbank is making a $2 billion U.S. investment in American chipmaker Intel (INTC).
SoftBank says it will pay $23 U.S. per share for Intel’s common stock, which closed on Aug. 18 at $23.66 U.S. per share.
The investment is equal to about 2% of Intel and makes SoftBank the microchip and semiconductor company’s fifth largest shareholder.
News of the Softbank investment comes amid reports that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is considering taking a 10% stake in Intel.
The U.S. government stake would secure a reliable supply of American made chips and processors and lessen reliance on foreign manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM).
Intel is in the process of building foundries to manufacture microchips and processors in the U.S. but has yet to secure a significant customer for that business.
Consequently, Intel’s stock lost 60% of its value in 2024, the worst performance in the company’s 50-year history as a public company.
Intel has become a major topic in Washington, D.C. as the only American company capable of manufacturing the world’s most advanced microchips.
Intel’s foundry business aims to manufacture chips for other companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Nvidia (NVDA) but has yet to secure a major customer and has put off some future investments as a result.
For its part, SoftBank has become a major player in the global microchip and artificial intelligence (A.I.) markets.
In 2016, SoftBank acquired chip designer Arm (ARM) in a deal worth $32 billion U.S. Today the company is worth $150 billion U.S.
In March of this year, SoftBank announced plans to acquire another chip designer, Ampere Computing, for $6.5 billion U.S.
SoftBank is also part of President Trump’s Stargate project that aims to invest up to $500 billion U.S. over the next four years in American A.I. infrastructure.
SoftBank also recently led a $40 billion U.S. investment round in privately held OpenAI, the largest private technology deal on record.
INTC stock has risen 17% so far this year.
