SoftBank stake fuels speculation over possible Intel Foundry deal

SoftBank plans to purchase about $2 billion of Intel stock, roughly a 2 percent stake, after Masayoshi Son discussed acquiring the US company's contract chipmaking unit with chief executive Lip-Bu Tan, according to people familiar with the matter. The conversations spanned options from joint ventures to a minority investment, and do not rule out a future deal for Intel Foundry, the sources said.

Washington is separately evaluating whether to convert some CHIPS Act grants into a 10 percent, non-voting equity stake in Intel, a plan analysts greeted coolly and questioned on legal grounds. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the proposal reflects President Trump's view that taxpayers should receive equity for federal support.

Intel opened its fabs to outside customers in 2021 but has struggled to fill capacity despite heavy capital spending. Costs tied to new plants and weak finances have forced Tan to warn that Intel could retreat from the most advanced process technology. Internally, the company remains its own largest customer, and the fate of nodes such as 18A and 14A hinges on winning external contracts.

For Son, a foundry tie-up would slot into a broader push to assemble end-to-end AI infrastructure. SoftBank holds stakes in OpenAI and Nvidia, controls Arm, and is driving the $500 billion Stargate data-center program in the US. The group explored building an AI accelerator with Intel in 2024, but shifted to TSMC after confidence in Intel's performance and volume fell short; SoftBank also bought Graphcore for its accelerator intellectual property. TSMC still dominates leading-edge output and is ramping production in Arizona for Nvidia and Apple.

SoftBank frames the Intel stake as a vote of confidence in Tan's turnaround. "Masa and I have worked closely together for decades, and I appreciate the confidence he has placed in Intel," Tan said. Still, Intel trails Nvidia in AI and continues to cede share to AMD in PCs and servers, keeping pressure on execution.