Athira Sethu
Kochi, 19 August 2025
SoftBank Group, the Japanese investment firm, has agreed to purchase a $2 billion stake in Intel. This positions SoftBank among Intel’s top ten shareholders. The transaction is significant since Intel has been underperforming over the past few years and is attempting to regain its footing in the international chip market.
Intel, the former leader in computer processors globally, has seen its share of challenges. It reported an annual loss of $18.8 billion in 2024, its first loss since 1986. It also lagged behind in the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence (AI) chip market, which is presently dominated by Nvidia.
SoftBank will purchase Intel shares for $23 a share. This makes SoftBank a nearly 2% owner of Intel and the sixth-largest shareholder of the company. Curiously, SoftBank is not requesting a board seat on Intel and will not agree to purchasing Intel chips. Its function will be that of a shareholder only.
The news had both positive and negative impacts on the stock market. Shares of Intel increased by over 5% in after-hours trading, but shares of SoftBank fell by over 5%.
Intel has been attempting to shift gears under its new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan. The former CEO spent billions attempting to grow Intel’s business of producing chips for others. Tan has reduced those ambitions to shore up the company and concentrate on fields where Intel can dominate.
SoftBank feels that Intel remains highly critical because it’s the only domestic company heavily investing in research on advanced chips, their manufacturing, and packaging. This renders Intel a strategic asset, particularly when the U.S. seeks to decrease reliance on Asian chipmakers.
The timing is also significant because the U.S. government has been mulling the purchase of up to 10% of Intel. President Donald Trump had even demanded the resignation of CEO Tan earlier this month over his connections with Chinese companies. But sources indicate that SoftBank’s action has absolutely nothing to do with U.S. politics.
This is only one of a number of massive SoftBank investments in 2025. The company earlier this year invested $30 billion in OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, and also hinted at playing a big role in funding Stargate, a $500 billion U.S. data center venture. Under Stargate, Taiwan’s Foxconn said it will collaborate with SoftBank to manufacture data center gear at its plant in Ohio.
Briefly, SoftBank’s investment provides a welcome injection of life to Intel as it attempts to bounce back from decades of failure, and also enhances SoftBank’s position in the worldwide technology sector.
