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Millie Giles8/19/25

Intel rises as US confirms talks for government stake, chipmaker announces SoftBank investment

Shares of Intel surged higher Tuesday, after the company reported that Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group was buying a $2 billion stake in the US chipmaker and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that the US government was in discussions with the company for an equity stake.

The equity investment by SoftBank will make the firm the sixth-largest Intel shareholder, per LSEG data cited by Reuters. Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the discussions confirmed by Lutnick center around a 10% US government stake in Intel, which would make the US government the chipmaker’s largest equity owner.

“Why are we giving a company worth $100 billion this kind of money? What is in it for the American taxpayer? And the answer Donald Trump has is we should get an equity stake for our money,” Lutnick said Tuesday, referring to funding from the CHIPS Act signed into law under former President Joe Biden. “So we’ll deliver the money, which was already committed under the Biden administration. We’ll get equity in return for it.”

The SoftBank deal was announced by the two companies on Monday evening.

SoftBank’s capital injection will come as something of a lifeline for the struggling company. Intel reported an annual loss of $18.8 billion last year as the once dominant chipmaker looks to catch up to rivals like TSMC, which has gained market share during the AI boom.

SoftBank Group and Intel Corporation Sign $2B Investment Agreement

SoftBank Group and Intel Corporation Sign $2B Investment Agreement

The equity investment by SoftBank will make the firm the sixth-largest Intel shareholder, per LSEG data cited by Reuters. Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the discussions confirmed by Lutnick center around a 10% US government stake in Intel, which would make the US government the chipmaker’s largest equity owner.

“Why are we giving a company worth $100 billion this kind of money? What is in it for the American taxpayer? And the answer Donald Trump has is we should get an equity stake for our money,” Lutnick said Tuesday, referring to funding from the CHIPS Act signed into law under former President Joe Biden. “So we’ll deliver the money, which was already committed under the Biden administration. We’ll get equity in return for it.”

The SoftBank deal was announced by the two companies on Monday evening.

SoftBank’s capital injection will come as something of a lifeline for the struggling company. Intel reported an annual loss of $18.8 billion last year as the once dominant chipmaker looks to catch up to rivals like TSMC, which has gained market share during the AI boom.

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Tom Jones5/19/26

Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

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