SoftBank Group is buying a $2 billion equity stake in Intel, a move that will make it a top-10 shareholder and provide a powerful ally to the struggling U.S. chipmaker.

The investment, announced on Monday, is a lifeline for Intel and its ambitions to manufacture chips for external customers, a project into which the company poured billions of dollars under its previous CEO.

New CEO Lip-Bu Tan has scaled back those aspirations as he tries to right the ship after years of underperformance.

The Japanese investment company will pay $23 per share for the Intel common stock, the companies said. SoftBank would become the sixth largest investor in Intel, according to LSEG data.

SoftBank’s investment will come via a primary issuance of common stock by Intel, and, based on the U.S. company’s market capitalisation at close of trading on Monday, represent an equity stake of just under 2%, an Intel spokesperson said.

SoftBank’s shares dropped more than 5% on Tuesday following the announcement, while Intel surged 5.6% in after-market hours trading.

The Japanese company will only take an equity stake in Intel and will neither seek a board seat nor commit to buying Intel’s chips, a person familiar with the matter said.

Intel has struggled financially and recorded an annual loss of $18.8 billion in 2024, its first such loss since 1986. The company also has virtually no foothold in the booming AI chip industry that is dominated by Nvidia.

SoftBank recognises the strategic importance of Intel as the only U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing company investing in leading-edge process R&D, wafer manufacturing, and advanced packaging technology on U.S. soil, the person said.

Bloomberg News reported earlier on Monday that the U.S. government is in talks to take a 10% stake in Intel. This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump called for the resignation of company CEO Tan earlier this month.

Media reports had said last week that the U.S. government may buy a stake in Intel, after a meeting between Tan and Trump that was sparked by Trump’s demand for Tan’s resignation over his ties to Chinese firms.

SoftBank’s decision to invest in Intel’s equity is not connected to Trump, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SoftBank declined to provide more details on the Intel investment when asked to comment by Reuters.

The Intel funding is the latest in the Japanese company’s run of mammoth investment announcements in 2025, which include committing $30 billion to ChatGPT maker OpenAI as well as leading the financing for Stargate, a $500 billion data centre project in the U.S.

On Monday Taiwan’s Foxconn said it plans to manufacture data centre equipment with SoftBank at the Taiwanese firm’s former electric vehicle factory in Ohio as part of the Stargate project.

Reuters