Trump Announces Apple-Intel Chip Design Deal, Sending Intel Stock Surging 10%

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build chips in the United States, triggering a sharp rally in Intel shares. The stock jumped roughly 10% on the news, with shares last trading up 8.8% in premarket, while Apple edged up just 0.3%. Trump framed the deal as part of a broader push to reshore semiconductor manufacturing, blasting prior administrations for allowing chip production to migrate overseas to Taiwan and elsewhere.

The announcement caps a remarkable turnaround narrative for Intel, whose stock has surged 464% over the past 12 months after years of manufacturing setbacks and market share losses. The company now carries a market cap of $608.7 billion — a stunning revival for a chipmaker that had largely missed the AI boom and ceded ground to rivals. CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over early last year, has been credited with reigniting investor confidence by landing high-profile partnerships.

Trump also used the announcement to highlight two other recent wins for Intel's foundry business. He claimed Nvidia had agreed to build its first-tier chips with Intel, and that Elon Musk committed to building 'TerraFab' — described as the largest chip factory in the world — developed in partnership with Intel's technology team. The TerraFab project represents the first major external commitment for Intel's foundry operation, which had previously only manufactured chips for its own product lineup.

The deals are significant because Intel's capital-intensive foundry ambitions have long struggled to attract outside customers, leaving it far behind TSMC in the contract manufacturing race. Bringing in Nvidia, Musk, and now Apple as design partners would fundamentally reshape Intel's business model and validate its manufacturing roadmap. The broader chip sector has been on a tear as well — the PHLX Semiconductor Index, tracking the 30 largest U.S.-traded chip companies, is up 90% year-to-date, buoyed by AI infrastructure spending even as Middle East tensions have rattled other parts of the market.