Intel is getting a $2 billion investment in common stock from SoftBank, which is betting big on the AI revolution.

SoftBank Group Corp. agreed to buy $2 billion of Intel Corp. stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions.

Shining a Spotlight on Intel Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) has emerged from the shadows of its semiconductor rivals, capturing the attention of investors and policymakers alike. After years of struggling to keep pace with competitors like Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM),

The U.S. chipmaker has struggled to keep pace in the AI market alongside competitors like Nvidia. Softbank has agreed to buy Intel common stock at $23 per share.

The industry looks very different from when Intel was the clear leader. Nvidia and AMD dominate AI and data centers, while TSMC is the dominant foundry. Intel is now cast as the underdog.

Pat Gelsinger’s keynote made it clear where Intel INTC -4.2% plans to innovate: AI. No surprise to anyone with a pulse, to be sure, but his enthusiasm was infectious.

Compared to its last-generation chips, Intel claims that Meteor Lake delivers 1.7 times the performance in generative AI and is 2.5 times as power efficient in the UL Procyon AI inference benchmark.

By extending the pool of RAM available to integrated graphics, Intel is positioning its systems to handle larger models that would otherwise be constrained. This may allow users to offload more of the model onto VRAM, reducing bottlenecks and improving stability when running AI tools.