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Following more than a year of "intensive talks," The Wall Street Journal reports Apple has reached a preliminary agreement with Intel for the former titan to produce some of the chips that power its devices. The scale of agreement is unknown at this time. As The Journal notes, Apple has recently shipped more than 200 million iPhones per year, and needs a steady supply of silicon for millions of other devices, including iPads and Mac computers.
Apple and Intel did not immediately respond to Engadget's comment requests.
According to The Journal, over the last 12 months Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has repeatedly met with Apple leadership, including outgoing CEO Tim Cook, to convince the company to get back into business with Intel. Prior to 2020 and the arrival of the first Apple Silicon chipset, Intel was, arguably, one of Apple's most important partners. Starting in 2006, the company's iconic MacBook line experienced its first renaissance after former Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the company's initial wave of Intel-equipped laptops. In a roundabout way, Apple's own C1 modem also wouldn't exist without Intel; Apple bought the majority of the company's modem division in 2019 for $1 billion. That deal saw approximately 2,200 Intel employees, as well IP and equipment, transfer to Apple.
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