Intel Shares Jump 7% After Trump Announces Apple Chip Design and Production Partnership

Intel's stock surged 7% on Thursday after President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Apple had agreed to partner with the chipmaker to design and build semiconductors in the United States, underscoring the White House's push to reshore domestic manufacturing.

"Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America," Trump wrote in the overnight post, framing the deal as part of a broader effort to revive U.S. semiconductor production.

Intel shares were last up 8.8%, while Apple was trading 0.3% higher in premarket activity. Intel's market capitalization stood at $608.7 billion at the time of the announcement.

The move comes after years of difficulty for Intel, which largely missed the early wave of AI infrastructure investment while grappling with manufacturing delays and losing its once-dominant market position. CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took the helm early last year, has worked to rekindle investor confidence in the company's foundry business.

Intel's stock has surged 464% over the past 12 months, reflecting renewed Wall Street interest driven in part by investments from Nvidia and backing from the Trump administration.

In the same Truth Social post, Trump described a sequence of commitments he said he helped broker for Intel. "First, we helped bring in Nvidia, and they agreed to build their first level Chips with Intel," he wrote. "Next, Elon agreed to build his TerraFab, the largest Chip Factory in the World, designed together with Intel's Technology team."

The TerraFab project, attributed to Elon Musk, represents the first significant outside commitment for Intel's foundry operation, which had previously manufactured chips exclusively for its own product lines.

Trump also took aim at past administrations in his post. "Stupid Presidents took our Economy for granted, and let Taiwan and others steal our Semiconductor Factories," he wrote. "I decided to help Intel because we need to design and build our Chips right here in America."

The announcement arrives against a backdrop of broader semiconductor momentum. The Nasdaq PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index — comprising the 30 largest U.S.-traded chip companies — is up 90% year to date, even as conflict in the Middle East has disrupted supply chains and driven oil prices higher.

Comments from Intel, Apple, and the White House were not immediately available. The Taipei Representative Office in the U.K. had also not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.

The Apple partnership, if confirmed in detail, would mark a notable shift for Intel's foundry ambitions — and a potential inflection point for a company that spent much of the past decade ceding ground to rivals. What formal agreements underpin the announcement, and what timeline governs chip development, remains to be disclosed.

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