In a late-night Truth Social post that all but confirms persistent supply chain-sourced rumors and tidbits, President Trump has spilled the beans on Apple's chip fabrication deal with Intel, setting off a speculative storm as to what's next for the now-ascendant chipmaker.
Trump details how he helped Intel, takes credit for nudging NVIDIA, Elon Musk's Terafab, and Apple towards the chipmaker
Trump has just taken a victory lap of sorts by touting Intel's rapidly expanding orderbook, which now apparently includes such august customers as NVIDIA, Elon Musk's Terafab project, and Apple, going on to boast about the U.S. government's 10 percent stake in Intel, which is worth around $60 billion now.
It is, however, Trump's statement on Apple that is garnering the most attention today. Specifically, Trump's suggestions that the Cupertino-based tech giant would "design and build" its chips within Intel's fabs is being noticed, especially as it expands the scope of the tentative partnership from contract manufacturing to encompass design collaboration as well.
Of course, today's development comes after Apple and Intel reportedly inked a preliminary chip fabrication deal back in May, While the specifics of the agreement are not known yet, it likely resembles the one between Apple and TSMC, where the former designs custom chips based on ARM's intellectual property, while the latter fabricates them on its advanced node lines.
Under this tentative partnership, Apple is likely to leverage Intel's 18A-P process for the base M7 chips that are expected to ship in 2027. What's more, the Cupertino-based tech giant is now expected to fabricate its 2028-launching A22 chip either on Intel's 18A-P process or the more advanced 14A one, with around 80 percent of Apple's orders with Intel reportedly pertaining to this iPhone-geared chip.
Do note that recent reports have suggested that Apple will leverage TSMC's 1.4nm node for its A22 Pro chips. This then only increases the probability for Apple to adopt Intel's 14A process for the base A22 chips.
As such, Apple has already procured PDK samples from Intel to evaluate its 18A-P process. In the same vein, GF Securities believes that Apple's upcoming ASIC - dubbed Baltra and expected to launch either in 2027 or 2028 - will also leverage Intel's EMIB packaging.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
