Intel Corp. and Japan’s SoftBank announced a $2 billion investment in the chip maker, giving the stock a boost after a large decline on Monday.

SoftBank will buy Intel shares at $23 each, a slight discount to Intel’s $23.66 closing price on Monday. The move could be seen as a vote of confidence for Intel, which has been playing catch-up in an industry that has chased the artificial intelligence boom.

Intel stock rose 7% on Tuesday to $25.31.

Apart from the money, the most important aspect of the investment is it could bring a future customer for Intel’s chip-manufacturing operations—SoftBank is the majority owner of chip-design firm ARM Holdings.

Arm does most of its business licensing its chip designs for handsets, but it is aiming to make its own chips as soon as this year, according to multiple reports.

Intel needs the validation of more external customers to choose to manufacture semiconductors using either its newest 18A process or its future 14A process.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said, “This strategic investment reflects our belief that advanced semiconductor manufacturing and supply will further expand in the United States, with Intel playing a critical role.”

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said on the investment from SoftBank: “We are very pleased to deepen our relationship with SoftBank, a company that’s at the forefront of so many areas of emerging technology and innovation and shares our commitment to advancing U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership.”

Tan thanked SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son for “the confidence he has placed in Intel with this investment.”

The announcement of the SoftBank investment comes amid reports that Intel is talking to the Trump administration about the government taking a stake in the company of up to 10%. The Wall Street Journal reported Intel could convert some of the billions of dollars it is set to receive from the 2022 Chips and Science Act into equity.

Those reports caused Intel stock to drop 3.7% on Monday. Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon explained Tuesday why investors aren’t pleased with the news: “Intel was originally supposed to get these Chips Act funds for free; giving up 10% of the company for them seems worse,” he wrote.

Rasgon and Wall Street are left guessing about the next move from here. “To be honest we really have no idea what exactly is being contemplated, when a decision might be reached or announced, and what the ultimate impact on Intel (or anyone else) will be,” Rasgon wrote.

All the government financing talk may be a distraction. Last month in a securities filing, Intel said that if it is unable to secure a significant customer for the next-generation 14A manufacturing process “we may pause or discontinue our pursuit of Intel 14A and successor nodes and various of our manufacturing expansion projects.”

The Intel turnaround will take time and primarily depends on convincing large prospective clients about progress in Intel’s chip manufacturing process and securing commitments from them. That makes SoftBank’s latest announcement particularly important.