Intel and Apple have reached a preliminary agreement for Intel to manufacture chips for Apple devices, according to The Wall Street Journal. Talks spanned over a year.
Intel stock jumped over 13% on Friday, hitting an intraday high of $130.57, surpassing its dot-com era closing high by roughly 72%. A year ago, Intel traded near its 52-week low of $18.96.
Which specific Intel products Apple will use remains unclear, but Apple ships over 200 million iPhones annually plus millions of iPads and Macs. Apple currently relies almost entirely on TSMC.
President Trump personally lobbied Apple CEO Tim Cook for the deal. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was also involved. The U.S. government holds a nearly 10% stake in Intel, acquired last August at $20.47 per share through the CHIPS Act. With Intel trading above $120, that stake is now worth over $50 billion.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan took over in March 2025 amid market share losses. The potential Apple deal follows Intel's Panther Lake chip launch, a $5 billion investment from Nvidia, and a $2 billion injection from SoftBank.
Apple's first Intel-manufactured chips could be roughly 18 months away.