Intel confirmed that the chipmaker has received the US$5.7 billion (~RM24 billion) from the US government. The payment is part of the Trump administration’s move to invest in a 10% equity stake of the company.
The US$5.7 billion is a payment taken from unspent Chips and Science Act, set up by the previous administration of former US President Joe Biden. The remaining amount of US$3.2 billion (~RM13.52 billion) will be provided to Intel via the Secure Enclave program, which is also another initiative created during the Biden era.
At the risk of sounding like CD Player going through a bumpy road, it’s no secret that Intel has fallen on to some pretty dire times. Once the darling of Silicon Valley and a dominant player in the world of desktop computers, the chipmaker has since lost its crown to its red rival, AMD. Even under the current leadership of Lip-Bu Tan, the company is currently undergoing a shake up that includes the selling of companies under it, along with layoffs that number in the thousands.
For better or worse, Japan’s SoftBank Group has also agreed to invest a US$2 billion (~RM8.45 billion) equity stake in Intel, making it the company’s third investment after its US$30 billion (~RM126.75 billion) to OpenAI and US$500 billion (~RM2.11 trillion) of Stargate, a datacentre project in the US.
(Source: Tom’s Hardware)
