(Reuters) – Intel, which is cutting thousands of jobs as it struggles to stay relevant in the chip industry, sold its 1.18 million stake in British chip company Arm Holdings in the second quarter, a regulatory filing showed on Tuesday.
Intel would have received about $146.7 million from the sale, based on the average price of Arm’s stock 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 dividends amid a pullback in spending on traditional data center semiconductors and a shift to AI chips, where it lags rivals such as Nvidia.
Intel has said it is focused on developing advanced AI chips and expanding its leased manufacturing capabilities as it aims to regain the technological edge lost to Taiwan’s TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker.
The drive to energize the contract foundry business under CEO Pat Gelsinger has increased Intel’s costs and squeezed profit margins, forcing it to seek cost-cutting.
Intel and ARM both declined to comment on Tuesday when contacted by Reuters about the share sale.
“This appears to be consistent with the restructuring plan and the renewed focus on liquidity and efficiency that Gelsinger laid out from the recent conference call,” said Benchmark Co-analyst Cody Acree.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel 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 so far this year, falling 26% on Aug. 2 after the company suspended its dividend. It was almost unchanged in extended trading on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru and Juby Babu in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Max Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Sayantani Ghosh and Subhranshu Sahu)