LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Intel has secured a $2bn investment from Japan's SoftBank, offering the US chipmaker a financial boost as it strives to regain competitiveness and amid reports that the Trump administration is weighing its own stake in the company.
SoftBank will acquire newly-issued Intel shares at $23 apiece, giving it close to a 2% holding and making it one of the company's largest investors.

The investment, announced overnight on Tuesday, pushed Intel's stock up more than 5% in after-hours trading, while SoftBank's shares fell in Tokyo.

SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son said the deal underscored his firm's belief in "advancing US technology and manufacturing leadership".

Intel's chief executive Lip-Bu Tan, who took over in March, described the move as a vote of confidence in the company's turnaround effort.

The Japanese group had been deepening its US footprint with a series of large technology bets, including a $500bn data centre project with OpenAI and Oracle.

Analysts, however, warned that the Intel deal, while symbolic, would not resolve the chipmaker's deeper strategic challenges.

Intel has lost ground to rivals such as Taiwan's TSMC and AMD, recorded an $18.8bn loss last year, and slowed the rollout of new factories in Ohio.

The investment came as Washington considered a far larger intervention.

Bloomberg reported the US government could convert subsidies into as much as a 10% equity stake in Intel, a move that would make it the company's biggest shareholder.

US president Donald Trump, who last month called for Tan's resignation over alleged China ties before later meeting him in Washington, had signalled his support for bolstering domestic chip manufacturing.

At 0428 EDT (0928 BST), shares in Intel Corporation were up 5.62% in premarket trading in New York, at $24.99, while those on SoftBank closed down 4.01% in Tokyo at JPY 16,035.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.

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