Intel to Issue $15 Billion in New Shares to Secure Capital for AI Expansion

Securing Capital for AI and Foundry Investments
Intel Shares Drop Over 5% Following Share Issuance Announcement
Data Center Revenue Surges 59%
Challenge Remains in Attracting Major External Foundry Clients

US semiconductor company Intel is set to issue new shares worth $15 billion (approximately 21 trillion won) to expand its artificial intelligence (AI) data center business. By taking advantage of a more than 160% surge in its stock price this year and heightened investor interest, Intel is aiming to secure capital for investment in both AI and its foundry (semiconductor contract manufacturing) divisions.

According to Bloomberg News on August 10 (local time), Intel announced on the same day that it plans to issue $15 billion worth of common stock. Bloomberg reported that this may be the first time since Intel’s 1971 stock market debut that it has publicly issued new shares.

Intel plans to use the funds raised for general corporate operations and future growth investments. In a statement, the company said, “This share issuance is designed to further strengthen our ability to pursue upcoming growth opportunities,” and highlighted the use of ‘physical AI’—AI deployed in the real world—and application-specific semiconductor markets as its key growth areas.

With the rapid global increase in AI data center construction, demand for Intel’s general-purpose central processing units (CPUs) is also surging. Last quarter, Intel’s data center division posted a 59% year-over-year jump in revenue—more than double the company’s overall sales growth rate.

Through this capital increase, Intel plans to expand its investments in AI and the foundry business without increasing its financial burden. While Intel already has AI-specific semiconductor products, the company has yet to establish competitiveness in the AI accelerator market dominated by Nvidia and AMD. At the same time, Intel continues to make large-scale investments in production facilities to grow its foundry business, which manufactures semiconductors on behalf of global tech firms.

Since taking office, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has made improving the company’s financial structure a top priority. To reduce the debt burden that increased during the large-scale construction of semiconductor plants and business restructuring processes, Intel has raised funds from external investors including the US government and industry competitors.

Robert Schiffman, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said this capital increase "will provide Intel with considerable flexibility to finance various projects including AI and foundry initiatives," and noted that the company will be able to carry out growth investments without raising additional debt.

He assessed that Intel’s capital increase reflects the recent market trend showing that companies do not necessarily need to raise massive funds for AI infrastructure investments solely through debt such as corporate bonds. Oracle, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft are also seeking to secure capital for AI infrastructure expansion through various methods. However, Bloomberg reported that Intel still faces the challenge of securing major external customers for its foundry business.

Meanwhile, following the news of the capital increase, Intel’s share price fell as much as 5.3% during the trading session on the New York Stock Exchange, closing at $96.30.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.