Reports have been building about Apple potentially partnering with Intel to produce future chips, and according to The Wall Street Journal, a deal has officially been reached.
Future Apple silicon may be produced, in part, by Intel
Robbie Whelan and Rolfe Winkler write at The Wall Street Journal:
Apple and Intel have reached a preliminary agreement for Intel to manufacture some of the chips that power Apple devices, according to people familiar with the matter.
Intensive talks between the two companies have been ongoing for more than a year, and they hammered out a formal deal in recent months, these people said. Bloomberg News first reported the talks Tuesday.
It’s still unclear which Apple products Intel would make chips for, these people said. Apple ships more than 200 million iPhones per year as well as millions of iPads and Mac computers.
Ming-Chi Kuo first reported last fall that Apple and Intel were exploring partnering on future M-class chips for Macs and iPads. At the time, Kuo said Intel might start producing chips as early as 2027.
Analyst Jeff Pu followed up in December saying that the potential partnership could extend to producing iPhone chips too. That wouldn’t happen until 2028 though.
Top comment by James Ruble
The Intel stock jump might be the most interesting part of this. Even being rumored as part of Apple’s chip pipeline is enough to get investors excited.
I’m curious what Apple actually gives Intel though. Are we talking lower-end M chips for entry-level Macs and iPads, or something bigger down the road? If Intel ends up producing Apple’s non-Pro hardware, would that eventually help bring prices down for customers or is this mainly about Apple reducing its dependence on TSMC?
That’s the real question to me. Apple gets manufacturing flexibility, Intel gets the credibility boost, but do customers actually see any benefit?
Then earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Apple was exploring partnerships with both Intel and Samsung to diversify its chip production pipeline. Currently, Apple is heavily dependent on TSMC for new chips.
Besides the obvious competitive advantages of diversifying chip production, an Intel deal could also help bolster Apple’s reputation with the US government. Intel is now partly owned by the US, and the Trump administration has reportedly been making efforts to secure new deals for the company.
Per the WSJ report, the US government played a key role in the Apple deal. “President Trump personally advocated for Intel to Cook in a meeting at the White House, according to people familiar with the matter.”
If Apple does intend to use Intel for 2027 chips, we’ll likely hear more specifics about the agreement soon.
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