Apple agrees to collaborate with Intel on US chip production, Trump announces
The preliminary deal, brokered after more than a year of White House negotiations, sent Intel shares surging 14% and could reshape America's semiconductor supply chain.
Apple is teaming up with Intel to design and manufacture chips on American soil. President Trump made the announcement on May 8, confirming a partnership that had been quietly taking shape for over a year behind closed doors.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the two tech giants reached a preliminary agreement for Intel to produce chips destined for Apple devices.
How the deal came together
Intensive negotiations stretched across more than a year, with Trump personally lobbying Apple CEO Tim Cook during White House meetings to bring the partnership across the finish line. The formal agreement was finalized in recent months.
Apple has long relied on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to fabricate its custom-designed silicon. The A-series and M-series chips powering iPhones, iPads, and Macs are all made overseas. Shifting even a portion of that production to Intel’s US-based foundries represents a meaningful change in how Apple thinks about its supply chain.
For Intel, the deal is arguably even more consequential. The company has been aggressively pivoting toward a foundry model, where it manufactures chips designed by other companies.
The government’s $8.9 billion bet on Intel
Back in August 2025, the Trump administration committed $8.9 billion to purchase Intel common stock, a direct investment aimed at expanding domestic chip production capacity.
Intel shares surged more than 13% intraday on the Apple news, ultimately closing approximately 14% higher and pushing the stock above $130. With the US government holding a roughly 10% stake in the company, the unrealized gains from that single trading session were substantial.
What this means for investors
This is described as a preliminary agreement. Manufacturing cutting-edge chips at the scale Apple requires is extraordinarily difficult, and Intel’s foundry operations are still proving themselves against TSMC’s decades of process leadership.
TSMC has been building its own US facilities in Arizona, Samsung has invested in Texas fabrication plants, and now Intel has landed arguably the most prestigious foundry customer in the world.