Remember when Intel was the cool kid in tech? Yeah, me neither – that was like, decades ago. But hey, someone still believes in the struggling chipmaker, and that someone happens to have very deep pockets.
SoftBank, the Japanese investment giant that’s basically the venture capital equivalent of your friend who always has money for the check, just dropped $2 billion on Intel stock. At $23 per share, they’re now sitting pretty with about 2% of the company. Not exactly a controlling stake, but enough to get a decent seat at the board meetings.
Here’s the thing: Intel has been having what we might politely call “a rough patch.” The stock tanked 60% last year – their worst performance since bell-bottoms were cool. While everyone else was making bank on the AI boom, Intel was basically that person who shows up to the party after all the good snacks are gone.
The problem? While Nvidia was becoming the AI darling that everyone wanted to date, Intel was still trying to figure out how to slide into those DMs. They’ve been throwing money at their manufacturing business like it’s a slot machine in Vegas, but so far, no major customers are biting.
Enter Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s founder and the guy who probably has “YOLO” tattooed somewhere. Son and Intel’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan apparently go way back – like that friend who still believes in you even after you’ve made questionable life choices for several years running.
“This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role,” Son said. Translation: “We think Intel might actually figure this out eventually, and when they do, we want to be there.”
The timing is interesting, too. Intel’s been the talk of Washington lately – not because they’re crushing it, but because they’re literally the only American company that can make the most advanced chips. That’s like being the only person in your friend group who can parallel park: not glamorous, but suddenly very important when you need it.
There’s even chatter about the U.S. government potentially taking a stake in Intel. Nothing says “we believe in free markets” like the government becoming your business partner, right?
For SoftBank, this is just another Tuesday. They already own Arm (the chip designer worth $150 billion), they’re buying Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion, and they just led a $40 billion investment in OpenAI. At this point, Son is basically collecting tech companies like Pokémon cards.
Intel’s stock jumped 6% in after-hours trading on the news, which is nice, but let’s be real – they’re still down massively from their glory days. This investment is less “Intel is back, baby!” and more “Hey, at least someone still thinks we’re not completely hopeless.”
Will this be the turnaround story Intel desperately needs? Or just another expensive lesson in why timing matters in tech? Only time will tell, but at least now they’ve got $2 billion more to figure it out.