Investments · Semiconductors
SoftBank to invest $2 billion in Intel
- Investor
- SoftBank Group (Tokyo)
- In
- Intel, Santa Clara, California
- Value
- $2.0B
- Status
- Completed. Intel reported the $2.0 billion SoftBank investment in its third-quarter 2025 results.
- Date
- 2025-08-18
SoftBank Group signed an agreement to buy $2 billion of Intel common stock at $23 a share. The investment came as the U.S. government was weighing its own stake in the struggling chipmaker. Both companies said it reflects a shared commitment to advanced semiconductor manufacturing in the United States.
Why it matters
The deal gives SoftBank a foothold in U.S. chip manufacturing to go with Arm and its AI infrastructure push. It also signalled confidence in Intel ahead of Washington's equity stake.
The deal
Intel announced the agreement on August 18, 2025. SoftBank agreed to buy 86,956,522 newly issued common shares at $23 each, a slight discount to Intel's closing price that day of $23.66. Intel said the stake would be just under 2% based on its market value at that close, which made SoftBank one of its five largest shareholders. The sale was subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals.
Intel disclosed at the end of September 2025 that it had completed the issuance and sale of the shares to SoftBank at $23 each.
The U.S. government stake
Days after the SoftBank announcement, on August 22, 2025, Intel agreed to sell 433.3 million shares to the U.S. government at $20.47 each, equal to a 9.9% stake. Of the $8.9 billion, $5.7 billion came from CHIPS Act grants awarded but not yet paid, and $3.2 billion from the Secure Enclave program. The stake is passive, with no board seat, and the government also received a five-year warrant to buy another 5% at $20 a share, exercisable only if Intel's ownership of its foundry business falls below 51%.
What happened next
The investment has since produced large paper gains. For the April-June 2026 quarter, SoftBank Group reported net income of ¥347.3 billion, down about 18% from a year earlier, with a ¥1.33 trillion gain on its Intel shareholding the largest contributor to ¥1.86 trillion of investment gains, according to Reuters. Reuters, via Newsweek Japan, reported that Intel's share price rose from about $44 at the end of March 2026 to about $139 at the end of June.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
