Who would have thought that Apple, the company that spent years humiliating Intel with those "Get a Mac" campaigns and then ditched them entirely in 2020 to build its own chips, would come knocking again. But this time the game is different: Apple doesn't want Intel's designs, it wants the factory. And that changes everything.
Trump personally advocated for the move, and the U.S. government, which holds a 10% stake in Intel, actively worked to bring Apple to the negotiating table. So this isn't just a tech deal, it's industrial policy dressed up as a press release.
What really intrigues me is the timing. Intel's 18A node is still described by analysts as "a little rough," and Apple's serious bet is likely on the 18A-P, which only scales next year. Apple is reserving a spot in a factory that isn't at its best yet. It's a long-term play to never again be fully dependent on Taiwan, and that says a lot about the state of the world right now.
The question I'll leave you with: if Intel manages to prove it's a viable second supplier for Apple, how many other giants will follow to reduce their exposure to TSMC?
A social news and discussion community