Apple chips made by Intel: collaboration closer than expected

It was recently reported that Apple may soon want to rely on Intel as a manufacturing partner for certain chips. Now we hear that a preliminary agreement has already been reached and that there are surprisingly concrete plans.

Apple and Intel are said to be largely in agreement

A few days ago there was an initial report that Apple was negotiating with Samsung and Intel about the use of their manufacturing facilities for the production of semiconductor products. Now a second source follows up and claims: Apple and Intel have already tentatively agreed on a corresponding cooperation. According to that Wall Street Journal Apple and Intel have been discussing cooperation in chip production for over a year. This involves using Intel’s manufacturing facilities to produce chips according to Apple’s designs and specifications, i.e. what Apple has so far mainly had the Taiwanese chip contract manufacturer TSMC do.

More chips from the USA, also because Trump wants it

The aim of the cooperation is presumably to expand chip production in the USA. It is said that the fact that there are talks at all is primarily due to pressure from the current US government. A government representative said that they were of course very interested in helping Intel. The US government has been Intel’s largest shareholder for several months, investing $10 billion in state funds in the still-struggling company. It is still completely unclear which chips Intel could produce for Apple.

It is also unclear to what extent the two US companies want to cooperate in the future. It would be conceivable that Apple would initially have Intel Foundry build chips for cheaper devices before later awarding further orders to the chip giant, which increasingly acts as a contract manufacturer, if the yield is appropriate. All the talk about a possible cooperation with Apple is of course good for Intel’s share price. After the first report a few days ago, the price has already risen sharply. When the WSJ followed up today, this provided a further boost, which is why Intel shares gained almost 14 percent in value within one day alone.