Intel Stock Rips Nearly 6% Overnight After Trump Confirms Apple Chip Manufacturing Deal

• Trump indicated that he helped Intel secure foundry deals with Nvidia and for Elon Musk’s upcoming TeraFab.
• Rumors of an Apple-Intel foundry deal have been circulating since last month.
• On Wednesday, Intel said its 18A-P process - an advancement of the 18A - had entered risk production.

Intel Corp.’s stock jumped 5.7% in overnight trading ahead of Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Apple Inc. had agreed to use Intel’s foundry services. The development marks a major win for the government-backed chipmaker and appears to confirm months of deal speculation.

“Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America,” Trump said in a Truth Social post in the early hours on Thursday. Apple shares gained 0.6%.

Indicating that the U.S. government played the matchmaker, he said, “We decided to help Intel in exchange for 10% of their shares. Is that too much or too little? They were worth around 100 BILLION Dollars when we made our offer. Now they are worth over 600 BILLION dollars!”

“When was the last time a President made America money?” Trump wrote.

Trump Played Intel Matchmaker

Trump said his administration is helping to bring advanced chip manufacturing back to the U.S. by pushing tech companies to use Intel’s manufacturing capacity. 

“First, we helped bring in Nvidia, and they agreed to build their first level Chips with Intel. Next, Elon agreed to build his TerraFab, the largest Chip Factory in the World, designed together with Intel’s Technology team,” he wrote.

Trump did not disclose which Apple chips Intel would manufacture. Bloomberg had reported last month that Apple was considering contracting Intel and Samsung’s foundries in the U.S. to produce certain main processors that power its devices.

Intel’s flagship U.S. foundry operation is its Arizona campus, which serves as the cornerstone of Intel Foundry Services and advanced chip manufacturing. Its other major U.S. manufacturing sites are located in Oregon, New Mexico, and Ohio (currently under development and expansion).

Samsung is developing a semiconductor fab at Taylor, Texas, which is set to go live later this year.

Intel And Apple Reunite, Sealing INTC Turnaround

Intel designed and supplied processors for Apple’s Mac computers from 2006 until about 2020, when Apple moved to in-house chips. 

The new Apple deal is a huge filip for Intel. Over the past year, Intel has undergone massive reorganization and downsizing under its new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan. The changes were complemented by the U.S. government's acquisition of a 10% stake in the company last August, surging demand for AI data center chips, and a recent partnership with Nvidia.

Central to the turnaround is Intel’s foundry push, as it looks to aggressively win external customers. 

The Intel-Apple news comes close on the heels of Intel's unveiling of its 18A-P process, with up to 9% higher performance, 18% lower power, and 20%–40% better thermal resistance than Intel’s 18A process. 

The company said the 18A-P had entered risk production, a low-volume manufacturing stage in which Intel will produce full wafers of 18A-P to gather data on defect rates, performance, and variability before full production begins.

INTC Stock Surge 

Intel’s stock has been closely watched by investors, surging 228% year to date, with gains supported by strong quarterly results reported last month.

Revenue rose 7% to $13.6 billion last quarter, beating Wall Street estimates by about 9%. The Data Center and AI segment posted particularly strong sales, which rose 22% to $5.05 billion. 

Intel Foundry’s operating loss narrowed to $2.4 billion, improving by $72 million quarter over quarter, supported by better yields across Intel 4, 3, and 18A processes.

Retail View On INTC

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for INTC remained ‘neutral,’ even as traders agreed that the stock has other levers, such as Trump’s involvement in the company, as drivers.

“Bottom line: Winning Apple would roughly double Intel’s total revenue (~$53B annual run rate currently) and completely transform Intel Foundry from a money-losing internal cost center into a major external business. It’s the single biggest potential win in the semiconductor industry — which is exactly why it’s watched so closely,” said one user. 

Another wrote: “INTC, the war has ended. Now President Trump has time to push his favorite company to the next level.”

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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