You could see a new order of things in the US chip world if Donald Trump’s word is to be believed: that the two will be co-designing and building processors here. Should it come to pass, it’s an answer to the one thing that has tech in a bind right now – not enough room to make the kind of wares the AI market is after, and Apple being too reliant on one shop.
It comes down to having your back and some clout at the table. Right now, Apple is putting a lot of weight on TSMC, where you have the likes of Nvidia and AMD vying for the same top-tier lines. A second option you can trust would even the score and take some of the risk out of the equation.
Why this matters for Apple and Intel
On Apple’s end, teaming up with Intel means more options and headroom. You want to push for better performance without being tied to one place or a supplier that’s already overbooked.
Intel, meanwhile, would be looking at a reliable stream of orders from a brand as big as Apple. It’s also good for the image of their foundry, which has been in TSMC’s shadow of late.
What has been said so far
Trump put it out there on Truth Social that Apple has come to terms with Intel to do some of this work in the US. As for the companies themselves, they haven’t made any official fanfare about it and were not immediately available to comment.
There was a story in May to the effect that a deal was in the works for Intel to make a few of Apple’s chips, following a year of back-and-forth. So what we’re hearing from Trump is coming in the wake of those reports.
Government backdrop and supply chain push
The White House has been making no secret of its desire to lock down the home-grown supply of semiconductors and the like, even going so far as to buy in to keep China from having all the say. That gives any local deal some political wind in its sails.
A case in point: last year the administration put 10% of its money into Intel and put forward a plan for a $10 billion or so in factory spending. Trump has since mused he should have put in for more, given the position is now worth in excess of $50 billion.
Competitive dynamics and capacity constraints
The numbers don’t lie. The best of TSMC is spoken for by the AI crowd – Nvidia, AMD and others. When everyone is after the same line, it makes for higher prices and a more complicated schedule for a customer like Apple.
Then you have Intel, which told us this week that its 18A is in early production and that there is plenty of appetite for its CPUs. It’s hard to miss the timing: showing off a new process is a way of telling the market you can handle the load.
Strategic implications and what to watch
Make of it what you will, but if Apple brings Intel in as an alternative, it changes how they do business with their suppliers. It might also be the nudge the US needs to build out more of the complex SoCs that go into devices, and not just the CPU side of things.
For Intel, it’s about walking the walk. Landing a name like Apple is fine, but can they be as dependable as TSMC? Whether 18A can be put to use with Apple-level designs will tell you if this is the start of something or just a fluke.
Keep an eye on these:
– Some form of confirmation from either side
– What kind of chips and nodes we’re talking about
– When you can expect to see them in volume
– Any new factory space in the US that goes with it
– How it plays out for TSMC’s books
Bottom line
With Trump’s comments, an Apple-Intel understanding is in the limelight. They won’t put it in writing yet, but the thinking is sound: Apple is in the market for some variety and power; Intel is after the kind of clients that put a foundry on the map. In an age where you can’t get enough AI silicon, the fit is there.
