Masayoshi Son’s strategic $2 billion investment in Intel represents more than just financial backing—it signals a powerful vote of confidence in CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s ambitious turnaround strategy for the struggling American chipmaker. This substantial commitment comes at a critical juncture when Intel faces mounting pressure from AI chip leader Nvidia and grapples with foundry business challenges that have eroded its competitive position. The investment underscores the deep personal and professional relationship between Son and Tan, forged over decades of collaboration in the semiconductor industry. SoftBank’s backing provides Intel with both capital and credibility as Tan implements sweeping restructuring efforts to restore the company’s technological leadership.
Decades-long relationship between son and tan shaped this strategic investment
When Lip-Bu Tan stepped down from the SoftBank Group board in 2022 at a time when the Japanese company was grappling with soured investments, his parting message offered advice on how Masayoshi Son’s conglomerate could strengthen its business.
Three years later, a resurgent SoftBank has made a show of support by taking a $2 billion stake in Intel as Tan, now the storied American company’s CEO, seeks to turn around the embattled chipmaker.
Tan took Intel’s top job in March and is driving restructuring at the company, which lost out to Nvidia in artificial intelligence chips and whose foundry business is struggling.
“This is really a vote of confidence of Masa in the turnaround materialising over the coming years,” said Rolf Bulk, an analyst at New Street Research.
The two men have a long-standing relationship. “Masa and I have worked closely together for decades, and I appreciate the confidence he has placed in Intel with this investment,” Tan said in a statement.
These two billion-dollar investments signal more than financial backing
Son, 68, is known as a savvy political operator, appearing publicly with U.S. President Donald Trump twice in the months following the presidential election.
He has close relationships with leading tech entrepreneurs such as Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, in which SoftBank has a stake.
Last week, Tan, 65, met with Trump, who days earlier had called on him to resign due to his ties to Chinese firms. Washington is in talks to take a 10% stake in Intel, Bloomberg has reported.
Son is making splashy investments again after some underperforming tech bets forced a period of retrenchment, with the conglomerate pursuing a $500 billion U.S. data centre venture with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.
SoftBank has acquired a former electric vehicle factory from Foxconn in Ohio as it looks to advance its Stargate data center project.
This investment pattern mirrors Son’s historical approach of backing visionary executives during challenging transitions.
What political connections reveal about SoftBank’s broader strategic positioning
“The $2 billion investment should be viewed more as a strategic stake rather than a financial one,” said Nori Chiou, investment director at White Oak Capital Partners.
Industry experts say Tan still faces a mountain to climb to turn around Intel, which has suffered from years of management missteps.
“It is Masa making a contrarian bet but one where I think the downside risk is fairly limited,” said Bulk of New Street Research.
Son’s investment in Intel represents a calculated contrarian play that leverages his decades of experience identifying undervalued technology assets during periods of market pessimism and industry transition. This strategic approach has historically generated substantial returns for SoftBank when executed during optimal timing windows, particularly in semiconductor cycles where technological shifts create opportunities for established players to regain competitive advantages. The investment also reflects Son’s broader vision of creating an integrated ecosystem of AI and semiconductor companies that can collaborate and cross-pollinate technologies, potentially generating synergies that extend far beyond individual company performance metrics.
GCN.com/Reuters.