Intel Intel said on Tuesday it plans to spin off its venture capital arm Intel Capital into an independent company, the latest in a series of structural changes announced by the chipmaker.
Intel said converting Intel Capital, which has $5 billion in assets, into an independent fund, will allow it to raise money from outside investors. So far, the venture capital arm has been fully funded by Intel.
Intel is experiencing its worst year for the stock market since it went public in 1971 due to a series of missteps and a massive loss of market share. The company has been cutting costs and simplifying its operations as it spends heavily to build cutting-edge chip factories while trying to revive its PC chip unit.
Intel ousted Pat Gelsinger as CEO in December after a troubled four-year tenure. He will be replaced by two interim co-executives: David Zinzner and Michelle Holthaus.
Over the past two years, under Gelsinger, Intel has sold or cut a series of smaller divisions and laid off employees last year as part of a cost-cutting plan.
Intel is currently spinning off Altera, a company that specializes in simple FPGA chips, and plans to become a public company. It also owns most moving eyeis an Israeli manufacturer of autonomous driving parts and software. Last year, Intel took several steps to transform its foundry business into a separate unit, including appointing a board of directors.
Intel Capital employees will remain with the investment company when it becomes independent in the second half of 2025, Intel said in a statement on Tuesday. Intel Capital itself may also change its name.
Intel Capital was founded in 1991 as the venture capital arm of a major company and was unique at the time.
Since then, the model has been replicated in Silicon Valley and other industries, with companies ranging from Google, Microsoft and salesperson arrive Unilever BMW has also joined the industry. ComcastComcast Ventures was founded in 1999 by the owners of CNBC parent company NBCUniversal.
While Intel was early into corporate venture capital, it’s not the first tech company to spin off an investment arm. 2011, sap Convert SAP Ventures into an independent company, It was later named Sapphire Ventures.
Corporate venture capital peaked in 2021, when companies in the space raised $156 billion and participated in nearly 3,800 deals, according to the National Venture Capital Association. The broader venture capital market hit an all-time high that same year, but the number of investments in new startups has fallen sharply since then, largely due to rising interest rates starting in 2022.
watch: Intel plans to take its chip subsidiary Altera public
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