20/08/2025

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | AUG 20, 2025

18

Intel gets US$2b shot in the arm from SoftBank o Tokyo-based group to take major stake in US chip firm, but avoids board seat and supply ties

Singapore, Thailand seal carbon credit cooperation SINGAPORE: Singapore signed an Implementation agreement on carbon credits collaboration with Thailand yesterday, marking the city-state’s first such agreement with an Asean country, according to the Trade and Industry Ministry (MTI). The agreement was signed by Singapore’s Manpower Minister and Minister-in-charge of Energy and Science & Technology Dr Tan See Leng and Thailand’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Chalermchai Sri-on, on the sidelines of the 9th Singapore Regional Business Forum (SRBF) in Bangkok, Thailand. “The Implementation Agreement establishes a framework for the generation and transfer of carbon credits from carbon mitigation projects aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement,” MTI said in a statement. Project developers can leverage this framework to develop high-quality carbon credit projects that are aligned with the Article 6 rulebook. MTI stated that the agreement would advance both countries’ climate ambitions by directing financing towards unlocking additional mitigation potential in Thailand. The carbon mitigation projects authorised under this agreement will promote sustainable development and deliver tangible benefits to local communities, such as creation of jobs, improved waste management, enhanced energy efficiency, and reduction of environmental pollution. Dr Tan said this agreement is a testament to the countries strong bilateral ties and collective resolve to implement the Paris Agreement in practical and impactful ways. “This year marks the 60th anniversary of our diplomatic relations, and it is especially meaningful that climate action is becoming an increasingly important pillar of our collaboration,” he added. The minister said he looked forward to this agreement serving as a pathfinder for the region, demonstrating how Southeast Asia can develop and scale high-quality carbon credit projects that will drive meaningful emissions reductions. – Bernama OpenAI launches cheapest ChatGPT plan in India BENGALURU: ChatGPT maker OpenAI on Tuesday launched ChatGPT Go, a new India only subscription plan priced at 399 rupees (US$4.57; RM19.28) per month, its most affordable offering yet, as the company looks to deepen its presence in its second largest market. Global companies often offer cheaper subscription plans for India’s price-sensitive market, targeting the nearly one billion internet users in the world’s most populous nation. The plan allows users to send up to 10 times more messages and generate 10 times more images compared to the free version, while also offering faster response times. Message limits increase with higher-tier subscription plans. ChatGPT Go is designed for Indians who want greater access to ChatGPT’s advanced capabilities at a more affordable price, the Microsoft-backed startup said in a statement. The top-tier version of ChatGPT – ChatGPT Pro – is priced at 19,900 rupees/month in India, while ChatGPT Plus, its mid-range plan, costs 1,999 rupees/month. India is OpenAI’s second-largest market by user base after the US and may soon become the biggest, Altman said recently. – Reuters

an annual loss of US$18.8 billion in 2024, its first such loss since 1986, as it grapples with multiple challenges. Its longtime rival AMD has been gaining share in Intel’s mainstay personal computer and server semiconductor markets, while its ambitious and costly plan for a chip contracting business that rivals that of Taiwan’s TSMC has failed to take off. The company is now considering a significant change to its contract chip manufacturing business to win major customers, Reuters reported last month, in a potentially expensive shift from its previous strategies. “Intel’s dual role as designer and manufacturer/fabricator uniquely positions it as potentially the best platform in the US to compete with TSMC,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo. Bloomberg News reported earlier on Monday that the US government is in talks to take a 10% stake in Intel. SoftBank declined to provide more details on the Intel investment when asked to comment by Reuters.

TOKYO: Intel is getting a US$2 billion (RM8.4 billion) capital injection from SoftBank Group in a major vote of confidence for the troubled US chipmaker that is in the middle of a turnaround effort. The equity investment, announced by the two companies on Monday, is a lifeline for the once-iconic US chipmaker which has struggled to compete after years of management blunders that left it with virtually no foothold in the booming artificial intelligence chip industry. It will make SoftBank a top-10 shareholder of Intel and add to the Japanese tech investor’s ambitious bet on artificial intelligence that includes the US$500 billion Stargate US data centre project. “SoftBank’s investment helps, but it is not what is going to move the dial for Intel,” said Amir Anvarzadeh, Japan equity strategist at Asymmetric Advisors. “It’s more to maintain this very good relationship he has with Trump,” he said, referring to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. The deal follows media reports last week that the US government may buy a stake in Intel, after a meeting between new CEO Lip-Bu Tan and President Donald Trump that was sparked by the president’s demand for Tan’s resignation over his ties to Chinese firms. It also comes as Tokyo pledged a US$550 billion investment package into the US last month as part of a trade deal with Washington. The Intel investment is not currently part of that package, a Japanese government source with knowledge of the negotiations said. SoftBank’s decision to invest in Intel is not connected to Trump, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the US, with Intel playing a critical role,” Son US President Donald Trump last week opened the door to the possibility of more advanced Nvidia chips being sold in China. But the sources noted US regulatory approval is far from guaranteed amid deep-seated fears in Washington about giving China too much access to US artificial intelligence technology. The new chip, tentatively known as the B30A, will use a single-die design that is likely to deliver half the raw computing power of the more sophisticated dual-die configuration in Nvidia’s flagship B300 accelerator card, the sources said. A single-die design is when all the main parts of an integrated circuit are made on one continuous piece of silicon rather than split across multiple dies. The new chip would have high-bandwidth memory and Nvidia’s NVLink technology for fast data transmission between processors, features that are also in the H20 – a chip based on the company’s older Hopper architecture. The chip’s specifications are not completely finalised but Nvidia hopes to deliver samples to Chinese clients for testing as early as next month,

said in a statement. It will pay US$23 per Intel share, a slight discount to Monday’s closing price of US$23.66. SoftBank’s investment will come via a primary issuance of common stock by Intel, and based on the US company’s market capitalisation at close of trading on Monday, represent an equity stake of just under 2%, an Intel spokesman said. The Japanese company would become the sixth largest investor in Intel, according to LSEG data. SoftBank shares closed down 4% yesterday following the announcement, while Intel surged 5.6% in after-market hours trading. The Japanese company will only take an equity stake in Intel and will neither seek a board seat nor commit to buying Intel’s chips, the person familiar with the matter said. Intel has struggled financially and recorded

SoftBank’s US$2b Intel stake expands its AI investments alongside Stargate and OpenAI. – UNSPLASH PIX

Nvidia working on AI chip for China that beats H20 BEIJING: Nvidia is developing a new AI chip for China based on its latest Blackwell architecture that will be more powerful than the H20 model it is currently allowed to sell there, two people briefed on the matter said. said the sources who were not authorised to speak to media and declined to be identified. Nvidia said in a statement: “We evaluate a variety of products for our roadmap, so that we can be prepared to compete to the extent that governments allow.” that the H20 was “obsolete”. US legislators, both Democratic and Republican, have worried that access to even scaled-down versions of flagship AI chips will impede US efforts to maintain its lead in artificial intelligence.

But Nvidia and others argue that it is important to retain Chinese interest in its chips – which work with Nvidia’s software tools – so that developers do not completely switch over to offerings from rivals like Huawei. Huawei has made great strides in chip development, with its latest models said to be on par with Nvidia in some aspects like computing power, though analysts say it lags in key areas such as software ecosystem support and memory bandwidth capabilities. Complicating Nvidia’s efforts to retain market share in China, Chinese state media have also in recent weeks alleged that the US firm’s chips could pose security risks, and authorities have cautioned Chinese tech firms about purchasing the H20. Nvidia says its chips carry no backdoor risks. Nvidia is also preparing to start delivering a separate new China-specific chip based on its Blackwell architecture and designed primarily for AI inference tasks, according to two other people familiar with those plans. – Reuters

“Everything we offer is with the full approval of the applicable authorities and designed solely for beneficial commercial use,“ it said. The US Department of Commerce did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The extent to which China, which generated 13% of Nvidia’s revenue in the past financial year, can have access to cutting-edge AI chips is one of the biggest flashpoints in US-Sino trade tensions. Nvidia only received permission in July to recommence sales of the H20. It was developed specifically for China after export restrictions were put in place in 2023, but company was abruptly ordered to stop sales in April. Trump said last week he might allow Nvidia to sell a scaled-down version of its next-generation chip in China after announcing an unprecedented deal that will see Nvidia and rival AMD give the US government 15% of revenue from sales of some advanced chips in China. A new Nvidia chip for China might have “30% to 50% off”, he suggested in an apparent reference to the chip’s computing power, adding