President Trump claims Apple has agreed to buy chips from Intel
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Apple Inc. is going to “design and build” computer chips with Intel Corp. The deal, if confirmed, would be a significant win for Intel, which has struggled to secure big-name customers for its most advanced node technology in recent years.
According to a post on Trump’s social media network Truth Social, the deal represents part of the White House’s ongoing campaign to bring more chip manufacturing back to the U.S. The President reiterated his belief that there’s an urgent need for America to build chips domestically, and that this was why he “decided to help Intel” last year.
Apple has designed its own silicon for years and is one of the world’s largest buyers of semiconductors, after having stopped buying Intel processors back in 2020. It won’t suddenly return to Intel’s designs. If a deal is confirmed, it will be a relatively simple contract manufacturing deal, with Intel simply building the chips designed by Apple’s in-house teams.
In all likelihood, Intel would only manufacture a small fraction of Apple’s chips. The iPhone maker has long relied on the services of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. as it’s principle manufacturing supplier, and that arrangement isn’t going to change any time soon. Instead, the deal would most likely just be a way for Apple to diversify its supplier base a little at a time when much of TSMC’s new capacity is being absorbed by demand for advanced artificial intelligence accelerators made by companies like Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The iPhone maker is most likely going to continue sourcing its higher-end M-Series chips exclusively from TSMC’s advanced nodes.
