Intel Has Reportedly Signed A Preliminary Deal To Produce Chips For Apple
After more than a year of “intensive discussions”, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has reached a preliminary agreement with Intel for the former titan to produce some of the chips that power its devices. The extent of the deal is unknown at this time. Like the Newspaper Note, Apple recently shipped more than 200 million iPhones per year and needs a constant supply of silicon for millions of other devices, including iPads and Mac computers.
Apple did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. Intel, meanwhile, declined to comment.
According to the NewspaperOver the past 12 months, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has met repeatedly with Apple executives, including outgoing CEO Tim Cook, to convince the company to resume business with Intel. Before 2020 and the arrival of the first Apple Silicon chipset for Mac, Intel was undoubtedly one of Apple’s most important partners. Starting in 2006, the company’s iconic MacBook line saw its first renaissance after former Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the first wave of Intel-powered laptops. In a roundabout way, Apple’s C1 modem wouldn’t exist without Intel either; Apple purchased the majority of the company’s modem division in 2019 for $1 billion. This deal saw around 2,200 Intel employees, as well as intellectual property and equipment, transferred to Apple.
But like many Apple supply relationships, the honeymoon with Intel didn’t last. By 2010, the company had begun designing its own chips, starting with the Apple A4, which eventually led to the first iPad and iPhone 4. In 2015, Apple also released the 12-inch MacBook, its first fanless laptop. The 2015 MacBook was a device ahead of its time, but it was also the debut of the company’s widely reviled “butterfly” keyboard design. I suspect the performance of this computer’s Intel ultraportable processors played a role in Apple’s decision to go with its own chips. From experience, the 2015 MacBook and its revisions were never particularly fast due to their x86 architecture.
By 2020, Intel was a shell of its former, once-dominant self. For many years, the company failed to counter Qualcomm – and by extension ARM – in the mobile space. More recently, the unthinkable began to happen when AMD began taking PC processor market share from Intel with its excellent Ryzen processors.
However, recent geopolitical changes appear to have worked in the company’s favor. After Intel named Lip-Bu Tan in 2025 to succeed former CEO Pat Gelsinger, President Trump was quick to criticize the executive and call for his resignation due to his past ties to China. But Tan appeared to gain the president’s attention soon after, because later that year the White House announced it would take a 10 percent stake in Intel. In September, Intel then signed a $5 billion deal with NVIDIA to build PC and data center processors for the AI giant. In April, it then struck a deal to back Elon Musk’s Terafab project, which will see Intel produce chips for Tesla, SpaceX and xAI.
It now appears that the company has at least a preliminary agreement with Apple. THE Newspaper reports that President Trump personally defended Intel to Tim Cook during a meeting at the White House.
