Apple Ready to Produce Some Chips with Intel? The Backstory on Tariffs and Trump's Strategy

Recently, American President Donald Trump wrote on his Truth profile that Intel will produce chips for Apple, as well as for NVIDIA. Rumors had been circulating for months, and while no official statement has yet come from the two companies involved, the Wall Street Journal published some interesting backstories.

For example, the negotiation between Apple and Intel for the production of some chips intended for Macs and iPhones would have originated in the context of negotiations between Cupertino and the Trump administration over semiconductor tariffs. WSJ sources reconstruct a previously unknown link between the tariff exemption granted to Apple and the potential involvement of Intel in its production chain.

According to the report, last summer, Tim Cook traveled to Washington to convince the White House to abandon the plan to introduce 100% tariffs on semiconductor imports, a measure that would have had a direct impact on the production costs of major Apple devices.

The exemption would have been granted after the company's commitment to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States. However, during the meetings, President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick would have also made another request: to consider Intel as a manufacturing partner for some of the chips designed by Apple. According to sources close to the negotiations, the Cupertino company would have agreed to have Intel produce some semiconductors destined for both Macs and iPhones. This situation represents just one element of a broader strategy through which the Trump administration decided to revitalize Intel as a pillar of national semiconductor production.

Last year, the U.S. government converted $9 billion in federal grants into a 10% stake in the company, becoming its largest shareholder. Since then, Washington has taken on a particularly active role in fostering new trade agreements between Intel and major clients in the technology industry.

NVIDIA announced a $5 billion investment along with the purchase of custom chips for data centers and other partnerships, while SpaceX reached an agreement to involve Intel in the TeraFab project dedicated to the design, production, and packaging of high-performance semiconductors.

Lip-Bu Tan, who became Intel's CEO in March 2025, has maintained frequent contact with the Department of Commerce. According to the report, the manager travels to Washington about once a month and has regular discussions with Howard Lutnick to update the government on the company's performance, customer relations, and the development of new production technologies.

The company's revitalization strategy does not only involve political support. Tan has initiated a deep internal reorganization, cutting costs, modifying the management structure, and strengthening the foundry business. Among the most significant interventions is the creation of the Central Engineering Group, led by former Cadence executive Srinivasan Iyengar, aimed at unifying the design activities of custom chips. Intel has also hired executives from competing companies such as Samsung and SK Hynix in an attempt to strengthen Intel Foundry, which has reported operating losses of about $10.4 billion over the last four fiscal quarters.

Another strategically considered area is advanced packaging technology, which allows multiple chiplets to be integrated into a single high-performance package. The Trump administration is pushing Intel to expand the production capacity of its New Mexico facility dedicated to these solutions, considered one of the main opportunities to compete with TSMC in the production of advanced semiconductors for artificial intelligence.

CFO David Zinsner has also indicated that this activity could generate billions of dollars in revenue in the short term. In recent months, Intel has also benefited from a favorable market context. The growing demand for CPUs for new workloads related to artificial intelligence has supported the sales of the data center division, which in the last quarter saw revenue grow by 22% year-over-year, reaching $5.1 billion, despite a quarterly net loss of $3.7 billion.

Google Cloud has also announced a significant order of Xeon processors for its data centers for agent AI applications, emphasizing how Intel's new approach to customization and collaboration with clients has increased confidence in the company.

Nonetheless, doubts remain about the company's ability to regain sustainable competitiveness in contract manufacturing. Several observers highlight how the strong government involvement in a private company's business strategy represents an unusual and potentially risky precedent. If Intel fails to consolidate the revival of its foundry, public intervention could be subject to criticism, despite the role played in bringing the American manufacturer back to the center of the semiconductor industry.