US chipmaker Intel has agreed to pay more than $14bn (€12.9bn) to regain full ownership of the Fab 34 semiconductor facility in Ireland from private investment group Apollo, just two years after selling a stake in the plant to stabilise its finances.

The Financial Times reported that the deal to repurchase Apollo's stake follows Intel's agreement last August to hand a 10% stake in the facility to the US government, which has since been complemented by multibillion-dollar investments from SoftBank and Nvidia.

Intel originally sold the stake to Apollo for $11.2bn (€10.3bn) in 2024, at a time when a series of financial and technical setbacks had cast doubt over the future of the last remaining US manufacturer of cutting-edge chips.

Intel finance chief David Zinsner said the 2024 agreement provided meaningful flexibility, adding: "Today, we have a stronger balance sheet, improved financial discipline and an evolved business strategy."

Intel will raise more than $6bn (€5.5bn) in new debt to finance the buyback. Shares in Intel rose 8% in early trading following the announcement.

For Apollo, the transaction will deliver a low-to-mid-teens return on what was the largest financing transaction in the investment group's history, with its wholly owned insurer Athene having been a significant investor in the joint venture.

Jamshid Ehsani, a partner at Apollo, said the deal came at an important stage in Intel's advanced manufacturing roadmap, where our long-term strategic capital played a meaningful role in accelerating the production of next-generation chip technology.

Intel's improved position has also been supported by growing demand for its central processing units in agentic AI workloads, a market previously dominated by Nvidia's graphics processing units.

View the full report on Intel's Irish facility buyback.