President Donald Trump announced on June 18 that Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and manufacture chips inside the United States, marking one of the biggest breakthroughs yet in Washington's push to reshore semiconductor production. The news sent Intel shares up nearly 9% in premarket trading and lifted the entire semiconductor sector.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Apple would design and build its chips with Intel as part of a broader administration effort to bring advanced chip fabrication back to American soil. The announcement caps months of reported negotiations between the two tech giants and signals a major shift in Apple's supply chain strategy, which has long relied almost exclusively on Taiwan's TSMC for its custom silicon.
What the Deal MeansApple currently depends on TSMC in Taiwan to fabricate every A-series and M-series chip powering its iPhones, iPads, and Macs. That reliance has become a geopolitical vulnerability as tensions simmer across the Taiwan Strait. The Intel partnership gives Apple a domestic second source — a strategic hedge against supply chain disruptions that could halt production of its most critical products.
Intel, meanwhile, has been racing to transform itself from a vertically integrated chip designer into a world-class contract manufacturer. The Apple deal would be its biggest win yet in that turnaround effort. Intel's CEO Lip-Bu Tan has staked the company's future on its foundry business, and landing a customer of Apple's scale would validate years of painful restructuring.
Analysts caution that TSMC will remain Apple's primary chipmaker for the foreseeable future, with Intel serving as a secondary domestic supplier. But even a partial partnership represents a tectonic shift for the trillion-dollar supply chain that underpins the global electronics industry.
Intel's 18A-P: The Tech Behind the DealJust days before Trump's announcement, Intel revealed at the VLSI Symposium in Honolulu that its advanced 18A-P chip node had entered risk production. The node delivers 9% higher performance or 18% lower power consumption compared to the standard 18A process, and is at least 20% more heat-resistant.
For consumers, the long-term payoff could be more stable supply and potentially lower prices as domestic competition heats up. But those benefits remain years away. The immediate story is simpler: after decades of offshoring, the most important chips in the world are coming home.
Sources:
- MacDailyNews: President Trump reveals Apple-Intel domestic partnership
- The American Bazaar: Trump says Apple will manufacture chips in US with Intel
- CNBC: Intel begins production of 18A-P
- WSJ: Apple, Intel Preliminary Chip-Making Agreement
