San Francisco, May 5, 2026, 09:22 PDT
- Apple has explored using Intel and Samsung to make main device processors in the United States, Bloomberg reported.
- The talks come after Apple flagged tighter supply for advanced chips used in iPhones and Macs.
- Intel shares jumped more than 13% in Tuesday trading, while no chip orders have been placed.
Apple Inc. has held early talks with Intel Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. about producing the main processors for its devices in the United States, a possible break from its near-total reliance on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. for its most important chips, Bloomberg reported. The discussions remain exploratory and have not led to orders, Reuters reported, citing the Bloomberg report.
The timing matters. Apple said last week that demand for the iPhone 17 lineup helped lift March-quarter revenue, but the company also faced supply limits in hardware, leaving investors focused on whether the world’s largest consumer-electronics maker has enough access to the most advanced chipmaking capacity.
A system-on-a-chip, or SoC, is the main processor that combines computing, graphics and other functions into one package. Those chips are central to iPhones, iPads and Macs, and the latest models require advanced manufacturing nodes, the fine production technology that determines chip power and efficiency.
Apple executives have visited a Samsung plant under development in Texas, while the company also held preliminary talks with Intel about using its foundry business, Reuters said. Apple, Samsung and Intel did not announce a deal; Intel declined to comment to Reuters, while Apple and Samsung did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests.
The talks have fresh urgency after Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told Reuters that iPhone sales were constrained by the availability of advanced processors. “The demand was off the charts,” Cook said, adding that there was “a little less flexibility in the supply chain” for getting more parts. Investing
Bloomberg also cited Cook as saying on Apple’s earnings call that the bigger constraint was not memory but “the availability of the advanced nodes our SoCs are produced on,” and that it could take several months to reach supply-demand balance. The Edge Malaysia
Intel was the immediate market winner. Its shares were up 13.4% at $108.61 in midday U.S. trading, while Apple rose 1.3% and TSMC’s U.S.-listed shares slipped 0.9%, according to market data.
Barron’s said the rally reflected hopes that Intel could land Apple as a major foundry customer. Ben Bajarin, chief executive of Creative Strategies, wrote on X that he thought Apple was “much farther along than just ‘discussions’” with Intel, while Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said the talks looked like “much more than exploration.” Barron’s
For Intel, even a limited Apple order would be a high-profile win for a foundry push meant to challenge TSMC. Intel says its 18A process is ready for customer projects and describes it as a sub-2-nanometer-class advanced node made in North America; “nanometer” is an industry label for chipmaking generations, not a simple measure of one feature on a chip. Intel
Samsung is the other live option. Its Taylor, Texas, site is a $17 billion initial investment and is intended to boost production of logic chips for 5G, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, the company says.
The competitive field is narrow. TSMC remains Apple’s core manufacturing partner, Samsung is trying to add advanced foundry customers, and Intel is trying to prove it can serve outside chip designers at scale. Reuters reported last week that Samsung expects more deals for advanced 2-nanometer logic chips and is reviewing a second Taylor fab tied to customer demand.
There is a catch. Bloomberg reported that Apple still has concerns about non-TSMC technology, including reliability and scale, and may decide not to move ahead with another partner. That is the risk for Intel and Samsung: Apple can test the idea, pressure the supply chain and still keep the real volume with TSMC.
