Intel’s stock has risen after Trump announced that the company will make chips for Apple, but it’s not clear when chips will get delivered, how many will ship, or how much the deal is worth.
Following initial rumors that Apple was in discussion with Intel over manufacturing processors, it was revealed in May 2026 that test production had begun.
Now in a late-night posting on Truth Social, Trump announced that “Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its chips in America.” Consequently, according to CNBC, Intel stock rose 8.8% in premarket trading, while Apple was up 0.6%.
The posting comes after Trump reportedly discussed the semiconductor supply chain at the G7 summit. Plans to reduce dependence on Taiwan chip production were key topics at this summit.
In a note to investors by Dan Ives at Wedbush seen by AppleInsider, the deal with Intel is a substantial multi-year one.
There were no further details, and the announcement appears to only confirm the news from May 2026.
What the deal entails
It’s believed that Apple’s deal with Intel concerns production of older or lower-end processors. Intel will not be making the chips for the forthcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max, for instance, nor the M5 or later ones for the Mac.
What’s most likely is that Intel will produce older M-series chips for devices such as the iPad Pro and MacBook Air. It may also make processors for the non-Pro versions of the iPhone.
Someone other than TSMC making processors for Apple has historical precedent. For example, Samsung used to make the A-series chips for Apple.
The most likely scenario here is tapping a capacity-limited TSMC only for the newest Apple processors, such as the latest 2 nanometer design expected in the iPhone 18 range.
Intel has only just recently entered very limited scale testing of the 18A-P process. That means that Intel will not reach full chip production for Apple until mid-2027 at the earliest.
Trump’s US manufacturing push
It is true that Apple and Intel’s deal was prompted by Trump. this follows Apple’s continued increased investment, or re-announcing of previous investments, into US manufacturing.
The deal and such announcements have already seen Intel’s stock price rise dramatically. The rise follows Trump’s administration investing in Intel in return for shares.
“They were worth around 100 Billion Dollars when we made our offer,” posted Trump. “Now they are worth over 600 BILLION DOLLARS!”
As well as responding to political pressure, Apple has reportedly been forced by the global chip shortage to consider alternatives to its main supplier, TSMC. That’s because the worldwide demand for AI processors has led to Apple losing its position as TSMC’s largest customer to Nvidia.
The shortage is believed to have led to Apple delaying the launches of both its M5 Mac Studio, and its touchscreen MacBook Pro. Apple has also discontinued various configurations of Macs as memory availability continues to be a problem.
Apple has generally managed to avoid the shortage problems better than most of its rivals, due to its size and buying power, plus its long-term deals. However, as the shortage continues, even Apple has said it is going to have to raise prices.
This story originally appeared on Appleinsider
