SoftBank, Intel ‘Had Talks on Chip Unit Before $2bn Stock Deal’

Asian Financial Daily
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SoftBank founder Masayoshi’s son discusses possible deals in an extensive speech with long-time colleague Lip-Bu Tan, who becomes the latter CEO of US chipmaker in March.

Son and Tan, a former SoftBank board member, talked about SoftBank’s troubled contract manufacturing business, which SoftBank bought Intel’s troubled contract manufacturing business, multiple sources said.

They said the negotiations could lead to a range of results, such as the $20 billion investment of Japanese tech giants in U.S. group stock announced on Monday. Intel’s foundry may offer a path to maintain premium chip capacity in the U.S. to balance the dominance of TSMC in the industry and give sons a Key parts of SoftBank’s ambitious AI plan Interest in robotics, energy and chip manufacturing is reported.

See also: Altman agrees that the AI market is a “bubble” that may burst soon

When Lip-Bu Tan resigned from SoftBan Group’s board of directors in 2022 – the Japanese company is working with Sour investmenthis separate information provides advice on how Masayoshi’s son’s business can strengthen its business.

Now, three years later Resurrection of Soft Silver Reuters said he showed support by occupying now-US CEO Tan at Intel, trying to turn the embattled chipmaker around.

Tan is restructuring the legendary company, which lost to Nvidia in AI chips, and its foundry business has been faltering.

“In the next few years, MASA is in a turnaround situation, it is indeed a vote of confidence in MASA,” said Rolf Bulk, an analyst at New Street Research.

“For Intel, this investment makes SoftBank more likely to be a potential customer of Intel in the future.”

“Working together for decades”

“Marsa and I have worked closely for decades and I thank him for his confidence in this investment,” Tan said in a statement.

In addition to his time on SoftBank’s board, Tan became chairman of Chip Startup Sambanova, who was supported by SoftBank’s Vision Fund.

“Masa is great; he is a visionary. But he still needs people to provide safeguards, give him advice, and make him more successful,” Tan wrote in a statement, leaving SoftBank’s board.

The 68-year-old son, known as the shrewd political operator, appeared publicly with U.S. President Donald Trump twice in the months after the presidential election.

He has close ties with leading tech entrepreneurs such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who owns stakes.

last week Tan, 65, meets Trumpa few days ago Ask him to resign Due to his connection with Chinese companies. Bloomberg reported that Washington is negotiating a 10% stake in Intel.

“Buy favors with Trump”

“SoftBank’s investment helped, but it’s not about moving Intel’s dial,” said Amir Anvarzadeh, asymmetric consultant.

“It’s more about maintaining this good relationship with Trump,” he said.

The son made another splash investment after some underperforming technology bets forced a period of layoffs, and the conglomerate pursued a $500 billion U.S. data center joint venture with Chatgpt’s maker Openai.

SoftBank has acquired a former electric vehicle factory from Foxconn, Ohio Hope to advance its Stargate Data Center project.

ARM, controlled by SoftBank, plans to make its own chips, while Japanese conglomerates also bought chipmaker Graphcore last year.

SoftBank’s stock has been crying and is driven by positive sentiment from its AI investments.

“This $20 billion investment should be viewed more as a strategic stake than a financial stake,” said Nori Chiou, investment director at White Oaks Capital Partners.

“In the cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing world, only $30 billion in capital commitments ($40 billion) have real commercial weight,” he said.

Industry experts say Tan is still facing mountain climbs to reverse Intel, which has suffered from years of management errors.

Most of the new street research says: “MASA has made a counter-trend bet, but I think the downside risk is quite limited.”

  • Jim Pollard’s Extra Input and Editing by Reuters

See also:

Foxconn, SoftBank focuses on Ohio data center equipment

Foxconn’s second-quarter profit jumps strong demand for its AI servers

UAE’s SoftBank joins Openai’s $50 billion data center agreement

Trump praises Intel CEO for resigning after meeting

The United States places trackers in AI chip transportation to capture China’s transfers”

China’s oppressive tech giant stops buying NVIDIA’s H20 AI chips

NVIDIA, AMD “Agrees to pay us 15% of China’s revenue raised”

Openai wants data centers with huge power demands – Fortune

Big Tech’s Power and Water Spotlights Amid AI Rises

NVIDIA reveals shares, SoftBank’s arm continues to dream

Jim Pollard

Jim Pollard has been an Australian journalist in Thailand since 1999. He worked for News Ltd in Sydney, Perth, London and Melbourne, and then passed SE Asia in the late 1990s. He has been a senior editor in the United States for 17 years.

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