Back in September, Nvidia announced a historic equity investment into Intel worth $5 billion, joining the U.S. government in lending a lifeline to the floundering American chipmaker. Today, Intel has officially sold 214.7 million shares to Nvidia at $23.28 per share, reports Reuters. At the time of the original announcement, that number was 6% above market price, but it's now 36% below what Intel is currently trading at.
The purchase was cleared by the FTC in early December, so it was only a matter of time before we received this news. Intel is worth $172.67 billion at the time of writing, a drastic recovery from 2024 and much of 2025, where it had been valued as low as $82.71 billion.
Over the years, Intel's massive capex spending had put a strain on its financials, which was paired with growing national security concerns over CEO Lip-Bu Tan's former ties to China. Just a few months ago, this commotion had transpired into a dire situation where President Trump was seeking to oust CEO Lip-Bu Tan, but the two eventually reconciled, leading to Washington purchasing an $8.9 billion stake in Intel.
Shortly after these two announcements, Intel and Nvidia unveiled the Intel x86 RTX SoCs, but these weren't a product of the Trump administration's involvement. Rather, this unlikely partnership had been in the works for some time, and was allegedly already in the works before any U.S. investment was made.
There's no release window for the upcoming RTX SoCs, and it'll take some time before any fruit is borne from the new partnership. But, it's safe to say they whenever they land, it could mark a significant shift in the industry, especially with a revitalized Intel at the helm. The chipmaker's foundry business has also started to find new life, with potential to challenge TSMC's U.S operations, thanks to its early adoption of High-NA EUV lithography.
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