According to Reuters, the Japanese tech giant has bought a nearly two per cent stake in Intel at US$23 per share, making it one of the chipmaker’s top 10 shareholders.

There is no board seat, hardware tie-ups, or tech alliance, just a wad of cash and a pat on the back. SoftBank’s investment comes at a time when Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan is fending off political pressure and boardroom whispers about the company’s future in wafer foundry dominance.

SoftBank, fresh from throwing cash at anything AI-related, is said to be aligning this move with its broader bets in artificial intelligence and American semiconductor resurgence. It is not alone in propping up Chipzilla either, with the US government reportedly eyeing a move to convert up to US$11 billion in CHIPS Act funding into an equity stake, which would make Uncle Sam the company’s largest shareholder.

The cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street briefly got excited, pushing Intel stock up more than 5 per cent in after-hours trading, while SoftBank shares fell on news of the bailout.

TSMC, is spending like there’s no tomorrow. Its annual capital expenditure is expected to hit US$400 billion (€367 billion), with most of that splashed on bleeding-edge processes. Meanwhile, Chipzilla’s purse strings are getting tighter by the day.

Intel previously warned that it would spend just US$180 billion (€165 billion) this year, with no plans to increase that next year. At least half of that, analysts reckon, is just keeping the lights on with routine kit maintenance.

With Chipzilla and Samsung pulling back, the semiconductor sector is relying heavily on TSMC and Micron to keep spending alive. Research house Semiconductor Intelligence reckons global capital expenditure for 2024 will slump five per cent to US$155 billion (€142 billion), down from US$168 billion (€154 billion) last year.

Next year doesn’t look much better, with only a meagre three per cent rise to US$160 billion (€147 billion) forecasted. Strip out TSMC and Micron, though, and the rest of the industry is cutting investment by US$120 billion (€110 billion) which is a 10 per cent plunge.

TSMC is expected to hike its own capex by 34 per cent to somewhere between US$380 billion (€349 billion) and US$420 billion (€386 billion). Micron is going even harder, with spending projected to soar 73 per cent to US$140 billion (€129 billion) by August 2025.

The two firms look like they’ll be carrying the entire sector on their backs while Chipzilla and Samsung sulk in the corner with shrinking budgets. Intel, for its part, is looking at a 20 per cent cut next year, and Samsung is expected to follow suit with an 11 per cent reduction.