Intel in the U.S. is expected to make at least some upcoming Mac and iPhone chips for Apple. That recent development may have been the key to a major tariff exemption on semiconductors Apple received almost a year ago.
Robbie Whelan, reporting for The Wall Street Journal on Friday (Apple News link):
Tim Cook was under pressure from the White House last summer when he fielded an unusual request.
The Apple chief was in Washington, scrambling to persuade the Trump administration to abandon its plan to impose tariffs of 100% on all semiconductor imports, a move that would likely increase the cost of its most important products.
Apple eventually won an exemption after committing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars more in the U.S. In the course of their meetings with Cook, President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also brought up another American company: the troubled chip maker Intel.
