Apple and Intel Just Struck a Chip Deal and Intel Shares Jumped 18%

Apple and Intel have reached a preliminary deal for Intel to manufacture chips for future Apple devices, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal.

The agreement comes after more than a year of negotiations between the two companies. Neither side has confirmed which specific products the chips would go into, but the deal is a meaningful one for Apple, which has leaned heavily on overseas manufacturing for its silicon needs.

Apple shares climbed 1.56% on the news while Intel popped nearly 18%, a significant single-day move that signals just how much investors have been wanting to see Intel land a customer of this size. Intel shares are on surge lately, up 118% in the past month and 512% in the past year, which you can thank the AI boom for.

The partnership is also a notable chapter in a relationship that didn’t end particularly warmly. Apple spent years as one of Intel’s biggest customers before cutting ties and switching its Mac lineup to its own in-house chips, Apple Silicon. That transition turned out to be a success for Apple, so the fact that it’s now turning back to Intel, this time for manufacturing rather than design, says more about supply chain strategy than anything else. Apple ships over 200 million iPhones a year alongside millions of iPads and Macs, and having that kind of volume tied to a single region carries real risk.

Bloomberg reported the talks earlier this week, mentioning the deal was about diversifying Apple’s supply chain. Back in January, one analyst said Apple might revive its Intel partnership and here we are.