Intel $INTC stock rose as much as 9% in premarket trading Thursday after President Donald Trump said Apple $AAPL has agreed to work with the chipmaker to design and manufacture semiconductors in the United States.
Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post, saying he had intervened to support Intel because the U.S. needed to produce its own chips domestically. "Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America," he wrote.
Neither Apple nor Intel confirmed the partnership.
A preliminary arrangement between the two companies — under which Intel would produce certain chips for Apple — had already been in the works following more than a year of negotiations, according to The Wall Street Journal. Landing Apple as a customer would anchor consistent revenue for Intel while lending credibility to its foundry operation, which has struggled to keep pace with TSMC $TSM.
For Apple, partnering with Intel would reduce its dependence on a single supplier. TSMC, which currently handles the bulk of Apple's chip production, is under intense capacity pressure from AI-focused customers such as Nvidia $NVDA and AMD $AMD, according to Reuters.
In his Truth Social post, Trump framed the Apple agreement as the latest in a series of commitments he has secured for Intel. He said Nvidia previously agreed to produce chips with Intel, and that Elon Musk's Terafab project — described as a large chip factory — would be designed in partnership with Intel's technology team.
Recruiting external clients for its chip production operation has been a central goal of the turnaround strategy that CEO Lip-Bu Tan has pursued since taking over early last year, according to Bloomberg. Intel disclosed this week that its next-generation manufacturing process, known as 18A, has moved into early-stage production.
As part of a government agreement struck last year, Washington acquired a position of close to 10% in Intel alongside a commitment of around $10 billion toward domestic factory construction and expansion. Since that deal was made public, shares have quadrupled in value.