Reports say Apple has reached a preliminary agreement for Intel Foundry to manufacture some of its chips, starting with low-end M-series processors on Intel's 18A-P process around 2027. Neither company has announced a final contract, so treat product and date details as rumours, but even a preliminary deal would be the biggest validation of Intel's foundry business so far.
What's reported
- A preliminary Apple–Intel agreement, first reported via The Wall Street Journal, potentially reducing Apple's dependence on TSMC.
- Products and timing (rumoured): analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple plans to use 18A-P for its lowest-end M-series chips, with shipments around Q2 2027. Separate roadmap leaks put a future M-series chip on 18A-P and an iPhone chip on Intel's 14A by 2028.
- Intel's process status: 18A is reported to be in commercial production with yields above internal targets, and 14A showing promising early results.
Why one foundry deal matters so much
Almost every advanced chip in the world, including Apple's and Nvidia's, is made by TSMC in Taiwan. That concentration is a risk for everyone: one supplier, one region, and limited capacity during an AI boom. A credible second source at the leading edge means:
- More capacity for AI chips, which eventually means cheaper AI inference.
- Less geopolitical risk in the supply chain that every device and server depends on.
- Price competition at the most advanced nodes, where TSMC has had little.
The software angle
You don't need to care which factory made your laptop's chip. You should care that AI hardware supply keeps growing and diversifying, because that's what keeps AI features affordable for small businesses, not just large ones.
At NextGen Fusion, our web and software development company in Lucknow, we build AI features to take advantage of falling costs: cheap models for routine tasks, premium models only where they earn their price.
