The US government is in discussions to potentially take a partial ownership stake in Intel, according to an Aug. 18 report by Bloomberg. The deal could help accelerate the construction of Intel’s long-delayed semiconductor manufacturing plant in Ohio.

A $2 billion investment represents a roughly 2% stake, ranking SoftBank the fifth-largest shareholder of Intel, while a reported 10% stake by the U.S. would be worth about $10.4 billion as of Monday’s share price.

A US government plan to take a stake in Intel Corp. would give the ailing chipmaker a powerful backer, even if a bigger challenge still lies ahead: finding enough paying customers.