Report on agreement: Intel to soon manufacture chips for Apple again

Intel could produce Apple chips again in the future. Both companies have reached a preliminary agreement on this, reports the renowned Wall Street Journal. This would also give a boost to chip manufacturing within the USA, so it is not surprising that the US government is said to have played a major role in the negotiations. So far, Apple Silicon is exclusively manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan. Experts there assume that the Taiwanese contract manufacturer will remain by far Apple's largest chip supplier despite the Intel deal.

Reports about US manufacturing of Apple chips by Intel have been circulating for months, but so far it was only about negotiations. Apple has been seeking alternatives to the sole manufacturer, TSMC, for a long time in order to at least somewhat reduce its previous dependence on the Taiwanese contract manufacturer. Apple could be interested in Intel for the 14A process, but also use the negotiations to have a better position in talks with TSMC about expanding US manufacturing, it has been said so far.

At the end of last week, the intensive negotiations, which have allegedly been ongoing for over a year, have led to an initial agreement, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, it remains unclear which chips Intel will manufacture for which Apple products. Neither Apple nor Intel have commented on this so far. Nevertheless, the stock market reacted almost euphorically to this development. On Friday afternoon, Intel's stock jumped by around 15 percent, and Apple's stock also rose by almost 2 percent.

US government supports Intel

The US government, under Donald Trump, is increasingly trying to manufacture products in its country and is introducing a series of import duties for this purpose. The Wall Street Journal reports that the US government was heavily involved in the negotiations between Apple and Intel. The USA's interest is not only political, as Intel became a partially state-owned company in 2025, so the Trump administration benefits from new orders for Intel.

A government spokesman declined to comment on the preliminary Apple-Intel deal but, according to Reuters, stated that Washington generally wants to strengthen Intel. “In general, we want to and have been helping Intel,” it said. However, this has less to do with the stake in Intel and more with the fact that the company is a significant US semiconductor manufacturer. “We have been trying to drum up business for Intel.”

Taiwan takes it calmly

In Taiwan, the Apple-Intel deal is being taken calmly. Although TSMC itself has not yet commented on it, semiconductor experts stated according to Focus Taiwan that TSMC will remain Apple's leading chip supplier anyway. Competitors of TSMC like Intel and Samsung would not reach the level of the Taiwanese contract manufacturer in terms of chip yield and energy efficiency. Therefore, it would be difficult for Apple to give TSMC orders to other chip manufacturers in the short to medium term.

Taiwanese industry experts also assume that the Intel negotiations are Apple's reaction to the increasing demand for manufacturing capacities for AI chips, rather than a planned switch from TSMC to Intel. After all, Nvidia is also competing for production volume at TSMC for its own, currently extremely in-demand chips, so TSMC is hardly keeping up with chip manufacturing.

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