Softbank owns a majority stake in Arm. Arm-based chips dominate the smartphone market, and they're starting to compete with Intel in PCs and servers as well. Arm doesn't sell chips directly, instead licensing its designs and intellectual property to companies including Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and many others.

Shares in the chip maker rose following news of SoftBank’s planned investment and a possible stake for the U.S. government.

The investment will make SoftBank Intel’s fifth biggest investor, with the conglomerate paying $23 per share of Intel common stock. Lip-Bu Tan, Intel’s CEO, said in a statement that he “appreciate (s) the confidence (SoftBank) has placed in Intel with this investment.”

A $2 billion investment represents a roughly 2% stake, ranking SoftBank the fifth-largest shareholder of Intel, while a reported 10% stake by the U.S. would be worth about $10.4 billion as of Monday’s share price.

Shares in the chip maker rose following news of SoftBank’s planned investment and a possible stake for the U.S. government.

The two companies said SoftBank's stake in Intel was a bet on the growing market for artificial intelligence, which Intel has struggled to serve.

Japanese investment giant SoftBank has announced a substantial US$2bn investment in Intel, the major American semiconductor company. This move marks a significant vote of confidence for Intel, which has faced scrutiny, including pressure from U.S. political figures calling for the resignation of its CEO.

The move could signal SoftBank’s chip ambitions, as the company may be gearing up to build Arm CPU tiles, AI XPUs, and Ampere chips tied to the Stargate Project.