'Apple has agreed to jointly manufacture chips with Intel,' President Trump said.
President Donald Trump claimed that Apple had agreed to collaborate with Intel to design and manufacture chips in the United States. While neither Apple nor Intel has officially commented on President Trump's remarks, Intel's stock price rose sharply.
Trump says Apple to partner with Intel on US chip design, production | Reuters
Trump says Apple has agreed to 'build' chips with Intel — neither company confirms deal as Intel share price rockets | Tom's Hardware
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/trump-says-apple-agreed-to-build-chips-with-intel
Intel stock rises after Trump touts US-built chip deal with Apple
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/18/trump-intel-apple-chip-design-deal.html
In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that 'the technology the world depends on was invented in America.' He cited the once widely known 'Intel Inside' slogan and argued that America needs to reclaim its central position in the semiconductor industry. President Trump also criticized Taiwan and other countries for taking semiconductor factories away from the US and emphasized the need for policies to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to America.
President Trump claimed that the first result of his support for Intel was bringing NVIDIA into the company. According to President Trump, NVIDIA has agreed to manufacture 'first-level chips' with Intel. He also stated that Elon Musk has agreed to design and build 'TerraFab,' which will be the world's largest chip factory, in collaboration with Intel's technical team, and that Apple has agreed to design and manufacture chips in the United States in cooperation with Intel.
It had already been reported that Apple and Intel, who had been in discussions about chip manufacturing for over a year, had reached a preliminary agreement regarding 'Intel manufacturing chips for Apple devices.'
Intel and Apple have reached a preliminary agreement for Intel to manufacture some of the chips for Apple devices - GIGAZINE
Apple switched its Mac processors from Intel to its own M-series in 2020. Therefore, even if the collaboration proceeds as President Trump suggested, it doesn't mean Apple will return to Intel-designed processors. What President Trump is likely referring to is Apple commissioning Intel to manufacture chips that it has designed itself. In other words, Intel will likely be in the position of a foundry, handling manufacturing rather than being the primary designer of chips for Apple.
For Apple, the advantage of outsourcing manufacturing to Intel is that it reduces its dependence on TSMC and allows it to diversify its manufacturing partners. TSMC's advanced production capacity is strained by increased demand from AI semiconductor manufacturers such as NVIDIA and AMD, so securing additional manufacturing capacity is significant for Apple.
On the other hand, for flagship products that heavily rely on cutting-edge processes, such as iPhones and Macs with Apple Silicon, it is unlikely that TSMC's role will be immediately replaced. Even if Apple outsources manufacturing to Intel, it is likely to start with products where the production volume can be kept relatively low.
One specific candidate is Apple's M7 chip, which is manufactured using Intel's 18A-P process. This chip could potentially be used in the MacBook Air and entry-level iPad Pro, with mass production targeted for the second half of 2027. It has also been reported that Apple's A21 chip for iPhones may be manufactured using Intel's 14A process around 2028, but neither Intel nor Apple has commented on this.
Intel explains that the 18A-P will deliver 9% higher performance at the same power consumption, or 18% lower power consumption at the same performance. CEO Ripbu Tan has indicated that several foundry deals are expected to be finalized in the second half of 2026.
President Trump then revealed that the U.S. government had acquired 10% of Intel's shares in exchange for its support. According to President Trump, Intel's company value was approximately $100 billion (approximately 16 trillion yen) at the time of the support proposal, and has since risen to over $600 billion (approximately 96 trillion yen) at the time of writing.
by Gage Skidmore
The market reacted strongly to this statement, with Intel's stock price rising 464% year-on-year and its market capitalization reaching $608.7 billion (approximately 94.3 trillion yen).
However, as of the time of writing, President Trump has only stated that 'Intel and Apple are collaborating,' and neither Apple nor Intel has officially confirmed the agreement. It remains unclear which chips will be manufactured, when, and on what scale.
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