Intel Raises $20 Billion in Enlarged Share Sale to Fund Chip Manufacturing Expansion

Intel has raised $20 billion through an enlarged share offering as the chipmaker looks to strengthen its balance sheet and finance a costly expansion of its contract manufacturing operations.

The company priced the offering at $95 a share, representing a 2.6% discount to its previous closing price. Intel had initially announced on Monday that it planned to raise $15 billion through the sale, before increasing the size of the offering.

The fundraising comes after a dramatic recovery in Intel's share price, which has been driven by investor optimism over the company's turnaround strategy and efforts to rebuild its position in the global semiconductor industry.

Intel shares fell more than 4% on Monday ahead of the offering. Despite that decline, the stock had nearly tripled in value since the beginning of the year, significantly outperforming rivals AMD and Nvidia as well as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which has gained about 75%.

The sharp rise in Intel's market value had increased expectations among analysts that the company would use its stronger share price to raise additional capital for its expansion plans.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the capital raising made sense given Intel's heavy investment requirements and past financial decisions.

He argued that Intel had weakened its balance sheet during the 2010s by prioritising financial engineering, including approximately $82 billion in share buybacks, rather than investing sufficiently in manufacturing capabilities.

Intel is now taking a very different approach, committing billions of dollars to new factories, advanced packaging technology and next-generation manufacturing processes as it attempts to compete with leading contract chipmaker TSMC.

Strong demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure has added to the company's investment requirements. Growing demand for AI-related computing has increased orders for central processing units, prompting Intel in July to lift its 2026 capital expenditure forecast from $18 billion to $20 billion.

The company has also committed to high-volume production using its next-generation 14A manufacturing process in 2028. Intel had previously warned that the technology could be abandoned if it failed to secure a major external customer.

Its foundry business has since secured Tesla as a customer for the 14A process, while hopes of attracting another major client increased after U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple would work with Intel to manufacture processors in the United States. Neither Intel nor Apple has independently confirmed the arrangement.

Intel is also investing heavily outside the United States. Last month, the company announced a €5 billion ($5.77 billion) investment to upgrade and expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in Ireland.

The Irish project represents more than one-quarter of Intel's planned capital spending for 2026 and highlights the scale of the company's efforts to rebuild its manufacturing capabilities.

The latest $20 billion share sale provides Intel with significant additional funding as it attempts to execute its turnaround strategy and establish itself as a major player in the rapidly expanding global chip foundry market.