Washington: U.S. President Donald Trump revealed via the TruthSocial platform that Apple has entered into a partnership with Intel to design and manufacture chips within the United States.
According to Thai News Agency, this collaboration with Intel will enable Apple to diversify its manufacturing base as the tech giant seeks additional chip production capacity. At present, Apple heavily relies on TSMC, which is facing high demand from AI chip manufacturers like Nvidia and AMD due to its advanced production lines.
Previously reported by the Wall Street Journal in May, Intel had reached a preliminary agreement to produce some chips for Apple after more than a year of negotiations, marking a significant milestone in the tech industry.
Securing a contract from Apple is expected to provide Intel with a consistent demand from one of the world's largest consumer electronics companies. This development is likely to bolster Intel's reputation and manufacturing business, which has been trailing behind TSMC in recent years. Intel recently announced that its new "18A" manufacturing technology had commenced early production, driven by strong demand for central processing units (CPUs).
In a related development last year, the Trump administration acquired a 10 percent stake in Intel, with plans to invest approximately 345 billion baht (US$10 billion) to build or expand factories in the U.S. Trump had previously noted that he should have sought a larger stake in Intel, as the government's investment appreciated to over 1.73 trillion baht (US$50 billion) in the subsequent eight months.