Apple may be the biggest technology company in the world, but sometimes it has to look elsewhere when things on its shopping list aren’t available.
The company looks like it could be a step closer to filling its cart with Intel-manufactured chips, if Friday’s Wall Street Journal report is accurate. The update follows a Bloomberg report earlier this week that Apple was considering additional semiconductor suppliers, including Samsung and Intel, to improve its current supply woes.
Apple has been facing unprecedented difficulties in its chip supply, thankfully lack of fab-capacity which affects the entire technology industry due to the competitive (and increasingly profitable) data center and business needs for AI computing power.
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TSMC, Apple’s main supplier of silicon for the M5 series and A19 chips used in Macs and iPhones, is one of the most advanced bases in the world and, therefore, in high demand.
The term of the agreement is reasonable. On its income line on April 23, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the company is “encouraged by our external engagement” regarding its Intel 18A-P and Intel 14A technologies. Intel’s 18A process node, used by Panther Lake Architecture in the middle of its current generation of laptop Core Ultra CPUs, it has brought significant performance improvements over previous generations.
Intel’s annual shareholder meeting will be held next week on May 13, and Tan appointed a new head of the group responsible for customer computing in early May.
Intel claims 14A will deliver better yields and improvements in efficiency over 18A; the company says its new “turbo cell” design enables greater flexibility in mixing high-performance and low-power cores. That sounds exactly like Apple’s latest M5 and A19 chips, which added a third type of core to balance performance and battery life, and 14A was probably necessary to meet Apple’s needs. In its call, Intel said the 14A aims to hit in late 2026, with early 2027 commitments.
Intel declined to comment. Apple representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to a Bloomberg report, Apple is negotiating with Samsung and Intel, and executives have visited the Samsung factory being built in Texas. It may come from potential deals with chip buyers, especially if there are technical issues involved in switching to silicon for other companies.
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Samsung last week announced about 50 times increase in semiconductor revenuedriven by increased demand and global commodity tightening.
Apart from the supply chain problems, Apple also has motivation to shift some of its supply to companies that produce chips in the US. Technology companies, including Apple, are under pressure from the Trump administration moving manufacturing operations or sourcing parts to companies doing business in the US.
Apple previously moved some of the production equipment as well integration with other Macs in the US. During last year’s trade war that imposed tariffs on China, it it changed some of its parts in countries like India and Vietnam.
