(Reuters) – Intel Corp, which is cutting thousands of jobs as it struggles to stay relevant in the chip industry, sold its 1.18 million-share stake in British company Arm Holdings in the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
Intel would have raised about $146.7 million from the sale, based on the average price of Arm shares between April and June, according to Reuters calculations.
The chipmaker said earlier this month it would cut more than 15% of its workforce and suspend its dividend due to a pullback in spending on traditional data center semiconductors and a shift toward AI chips, where it lags rivals such as Nvidia.
Intel said it is focusing on developing advanced AI chips and strengthening its contract manufacturing capabilities, aiming to regain the technological advantage it lost to Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
The push to boost that contract foundry business under CEO Pat Gelsinger has increased Intel’s costs and put pressure on profit margins, forcing it to seek cost cuts.
Intel and ARM both declined to comment on Tuesday when contacted by Reuters about the share sale.
“This seems consistent with the restructuring plan and renewed focus on liquidity and efficiency that Gelsinger outlined on the last conference call,” Benchmark Co analyst Cody Acree said.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., had cash and cash equivalents of $11.29 billion and total current liabilities of about $32 billion at the end of June.
Intel shares have lost more than 59% of their value since the start of the year, falling 26% on Aug. 2 after the company suspended its dividend. They were nearly flat in extended trading Tuesday.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bangalore and Juby Babu in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Max Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Sayantani Ghosh and Subhranshu Sahu)
