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.

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.

Federal officials are considering the move because Intel, the last leading-edge chipmaker in the United States, has been struggling.