A White House meeting, a troubled chipmaker, and one of the biggest shifts in Apple’s supply chain in years.
A new report from The Wall Street Journal has pulled back the curtain on one of the most consequential — and quietly kept — deals in recent tech history. Apple secured an exemption from US semiconductor tariffs after committing to manufacture chips at Intel’s fabs — and it wasn’t just about Macs. Apple plans to have Intel make chips for both Mac laptops and iPhones, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.
If that holds, this is one of the biggest changes to Apple’s chip strategy in over a decade.
How the Deal Actually Came Together
The story behind the deal is as much political as it is technological. Tim Cook was in Washington, scrambling to persuade the Trump administration to abandon its plan to impose tariffs of 100% on all semiconductor imports — a move that would likely have increased the cost of Apple’s most important products.
The solution came from an unexpected direction. President Trump personally advocated for Intel to Cook in a meeting at the White House. The administration effectively tied tariff relief to an investment in Intel — a struggling American chipmaker in desperate need of a marquee customer.
Trump later confirmed on June 18, 2026, that Apple and Intel had struck a partnership to manufacture processors domestically, posting the announcement on Truth Social. The news sent Intel stock surging more than 10% and reignited the conversation around American semiconductor independence.
Intel stock extended gains to rise 15% on the news, while Apple shares were up about 1.7% in afternoon trading.
What the Deal Actually Covers
| Detail | What We Know |
|---|---|
| Chips for Mac | Confirmed — Intel to manufacture future Mac chips |
| Chips for iPhone | Reported — preliminary deal covers future iPhone chips |
| Intel’s role | Contract fabricator for Apple-designed silicon |
| Tariff outcome | Apple received semiconductor tariff exemption |
| Official confirmation | Neither Apple nor Intel has publicly confirmed |
| Trump’s announcement | June 18, 2026 via Truth Social |
One important caveat: neither Apple nor Intel has officially confirmed the deal. Intel told reporters it would not comment on “a potential Apple-Intel agreement.” Apple did not respond to requests for comment from multiple news outlets.
The WSJ’s characterisation is also more measured than Trump’s language. The WSJ characterised Intel as a potential contract fabricator for Apple-designed silicon — not a co-design partner. Trump’s post introduced a design collaboration element that no independent reporting has verified.
Why This Is a Big Deal for Intel
For years, Intel’s foundry ambitions have been a punchline — a once-dominant chipmaker that fell badly behind TSMC while trying to catch up. Landing an Apple contract would give Intel a steady stream of demand from one of the world’s largest consumer electronics companies, bolstering its reputation and a manufacturing business that has fallen behind TSMC in recent years.
Intel’s valuation had grown from roughly $100 billion in August 2025 to approximately $600 billion by mid-June 2026 — a staggering recovery that the Apple deal narrative has significantly fuelled.
For Apple, the calculus is different. TSMC in Taiwan has been its exclusive silicon partner for years, and moving even a portion of chip manufacturing to Intel introduces execution risk. But the tariff savings — and the political goodwill — apparently made the trade-off worthwhile.
If you’ve been following how Apple’s manufacturing and supply chain strategy has evolved in India and globally, this deal is the most dramatic example yet of geopolitics reshaping where the world’s most valuable company makes its products.
What It Means for iPhone and Mac Buyers
Apple was ultimately never forced to raise prices on products due to import tariffs on semiconductors — the deal did its job on that front. Whether Intel-manufactured Apple chips perform on par with TSMC-made equivalents is the question that will matter most to consumers down the line.
Apple Silicon has set an extraordinarily high bar — the M-series chips and A-series iPhone processors are benchmarked among the best in the world. Intel’s foundry process will need to deliver comparable yields and performance for this partnership to work at scale.
We’ll be tracking every development on this story as official confirmations emerge. In the meantime, our Apple coverage at TechnoSports has all the latest.
Bottom Line
This is a rare story where trade policy, corporate strategy, and geopolitics converge into something that genuinely matters for everyday consumers. Apple avoided a tariff hit that could have pushed iPhone and Mac prices significantly higher — but the price was committing to Intel as a chip manufacturer, a bet that carries real technical risk. Whether it pays off will become clear when the first Intel-fabricated Apple chip ships.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal | 9to5Mac | Reuters
