Wall Street's cocaine nose jobs were relieved to hear the news because Mobileye has not had a good year since Intel spun it off. Its shares went up 13 per cent on the news.

To be fair they could not have become worse. Mobileye has been grappling with choppy demand for its driver-assistance chips. The company cut its annual revenue and profit forecasts in August, hit by weakness in China. It also moaned that customers had too many of its chips stored in their inventories.

Mobileye shares, which have dropped 73 per cent this year, took a beating earlier in the month after Bloomberg News reported that Intel was looking to sell a portion of its stake in the company.

"We believe in the future of autonomous driving technology and Mobileye's unique role as a leader in the development and deployment of advanced driver assistance systems," Intel said in a statement.

Intel acquired Mobileye in a $15.3 billion deal in 2017 but relisted its shares five years later through an initial public offering. Intel owns 88.3 per cent of Mobileye's common stock.