SoftBank has agreed to invest $2 billion in Intel, a move that will see the company take around a two percent stake in the chipmaker and make it the fifth-biggest shareholder.

The Japanese investment management firm and telecoms business will buy the stock directly from Intel at $23 a share. Following the announcement, shares in Intel rose by more than five percent, while shares in SoftBank fell by around the same amount.

“This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the US, with Intel playing a critical role,” said SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, who went on to describe Intel as a “trusted leader in innovation.”

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said he had worked closely with Son for decades, and added that the chipmaker was “very pleased to deepen our relationship with SoftBank, a company that’s at the forefront of so many areas of emerging technology and innovation and shares our commitment to advancing US technology and manufacturing leadership.”

The Intel stock purchase follows a slew of other such investments made by SoftBank in recent months. Earlier this year, regulatory filings revealed the company increased its stake in Nvidia from $1 billion at the end of 2024 to $3bn by the end of March 2025, and bought around $330 million worth of TSMC shares and $170m in Oracle.

Alongside Oracle, OpenAI, and Abu Dhabi's MGX, SoftBank is also one of the financial backers supporting OpenAI's $500 billion data center effort, dubbed Stargate. SoftBank has financial responsibility for the project, with Son serving as chairman.

Elsewhere this week, it was announced that SoftBank has purchased a former General Motors factory in Lordstown, Ohio, from Foxconn for $375m, with the two companies set to establish a joint venture for the manufacture of data center-related equipment for the Stargate project.

SoftBank’s investment in Intel comes less than a week after it was claimed that the Trump administration was reportedly in talks to acquire its own stake in the struggling chip company, a figure that Bloomberg today reported could amount to around 10 percent, a figure worth about $10.5bn, and which would make it the largest shareholder.

The government is considering a deal that would involve converting some or all of the CHIPS and Science Act grants awarded to Intel into equity, Bloomberg added.

In March 2024, the chipmaker was preliminarily awarded $8.5 billion in direct funding. However, this figure was reduced to $7.865bn in November of the same year, in part because Intel was awarded a $3.5bn contract with the Pentagon to produce advanced semiconductors for military and intelligence applications.

Should the deal go ahead, it would help support the construction of the chipmaker’s two planned fabs in New Albany and Licking County, Ohio, which are currently half a decade behind schedule.