Apple Investing in Intel Would Be Largely Political

Gene Munster, Brian BakerSeptember 25, 2025

Apple may be exploring an investment in Intel (source: Bloomberg), but I believe the strategic benefits are limited. Over the past five years, Apple’s product strategy has moved decisively away from Intel and toward custom chip designs manufactured by TSMC. I see the only rationale for Apple to invest as political goodwill.

Key Takeaways

Bloomberg reports that Intel wants Apple to invest, likely in an effort to win them as a customer for its struggling foundry business.

Intel’s chip design lags Apple, and its foundry business trails TSMC by more than two years. That leaves political considerations as the primary motivation for an investment.

What's Rumored

Reports from Bloomberg suggest Intel has reached out to Apple about an investment. Discussions are described as early stage and could involve chips, manufacturing, or packaging. The talks follow recent deals where Nvidia invested $5 billion and SoftBank $2 billion in Intel to support its turnaround.

Shares of Intel traded up 1% on the report, while Apple shares were flat compared with the Nasdaq, which declined 1.3%.

Taking a step back, Intel is under pressure to validate its government backed revival, having received a roughly 10 percent investment from the US government in August. I believe Intel’s goal in winning Apple as an investor is to secure Apple as a customer for its foundry ambitions, which would represent a shift away from TSMC.

Apple and Intel have a long history. Macs used Intel processors from 2006 until 2020, when Apple announced it would begin the shift to its own M-series silicon. That change allowed Apple to better control performance and efficiency, a move later mirrored by Microsoft and others pursuing in-house chip design.

Apple Has Bigger Fish to Fry

I see the logic of Apple investing in Intel as weak. Five years ago, Apple relied on Intel Core processors to power its Mac lineup, but performance and roadmap delays led Apple to design its own silicon.

Apple already invests heavily in vertical integration. It has designed its own CPUs and neural engines, giving it tighter control over hardware and software performance. A financial investment in Intel would do little to advance Apple’s chip leadership, and I believe it would complicate rather than strengthen Apple’s supply chain strategy.

There is also the foundry question. Apple’s most advanced chips are currently manufactured at scale by TSMC, whose process technology is two to three years ahead of Intel. From a product and manufacturing standpoint, Intel does not move Apple’s roadmap forward.

The one reason Apple might consider this is political. The US government views Intel as a strategic national asset and has encouraged partnerships to strengthen domestic production. Apple could use an investment to signal support for US manufacturing, aligning with its $600 billion, four-year US investment commitment announced in August.

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