--- title: Apple is talking to Intel and Samsung about making its... description: Apple is in early-stage exploratory talks with Intel and Samsung to manufacture some of its M-series chips, primarily to reduce dependence on TSMC amid... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/apple-is-talking-to-intel-and-samsung-about-making-its-m-series-chips-dgvdrwdpv twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Apple is talking to Intel and Samsung about making its M-series chips | daily.dev og:description: Apple is in early-stage exploratory talks with Intel and Samsung to manufacture some of its M-series chips, primarily to reduce dependence on TSMC amid... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/apple-is-talking-to-intel-and-samsung-about-making-its-m-series-chips-dgvdrwdpv og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/DGvdrwdPV.png og:image:alt: Apple is talking to Intel and Samsung about making its M-series chips og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Apple is talking to Intel and Samsung about making its M-series chips **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 4 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Apple is in early-stage exploratory talks with Intel and Samsung to manufacture some of its M-series chips, primarily to reduce dependence on TSMC amid geopolitical concentration risk in Taiwan. No orders have been placed. The most likely outcome is a split arrangement where Intel or Samsung handles lower-end chips while TSMC retains high-performance silicon, with any non-TSMC shipments unlikely before mid-2027. Intel's stock surged to an all-time high on the news, despite the company still facing significant challenges: cost per chip roughly three times TSMC's, yield rates around 65% vs TSMC's 80%+, and a foundry business that lost $2.4B in Q1. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has made real structural changes since taking over in March 2025, but the stock rally is driven more by geopolitical necessity and government backing than proven manufacturing capability. For Apple, this is a hedge to gain negotiating leverage with TSMC and reduce supply concentration risk, not a genuine pivot away from the world's leading foundry. ## Content Apple is in early-stage talks with both Intel and Samsung to manufacture some of its M-series chips — a quiet but significant attempt to reduce its total dependence on TSMC. No orders have been placed. These are exploratory conversations, and Apple has real concerns about whether either foundry can match TSMC's yields and performance. But the talks are happening, and that alone sent Intel's stock to an all-time high. ## Why Apple wants out from under TSMC This isn't about cost. TSMC is currently the only foundry capable of producing the 3nm silicon Apple needs, which means Apple's entire hardware roadmap runs through a single company on a single island with complicated geopolitics. That's the problem Apple is trying to solve. The most likely outcome, if anything comes of this, is a split: Intel or Samsung handles lower-end M-series chips while TSMC keeps the high-performance silicon. Any non-TSMC shipments probably wouldn't arrive until mid-2027 at the earliest. There's also a commercial angle. Apple having a credible alternative foundry — even a partial one — gives it leverage in pricing conversations with TSMC. You don't need to actually move production to benefit from the threat of moving it. ## The TSMC supply problem is real Part of what's pushing Apple here is structural. TSMC is capacity-constrained, and that constraint isn't going away quickly. Cleanrooms take three years to build. To have matched today's demand perfectly, TSMC would have needed to make massive capital commitments back in 2022 or 2023, when the AI boom wasn't nearly as legible as it is now. TSMC is growing capex by 40%, but in absolute dollars these are enormous numbers, and Taiwan is running low on the engineers needed to staff new fabs. Supply will keep lagging demand. That dynamic pushes wafer prices up and makes customers like Apple increasingly nervous about concentration risk. ## Intel's improbable rally Intel's stock has tripled — some reports say nearly quintupled, depending on the measurement window — since CEO Lip-Bu Tan took over in March 2025. The Apple news pushed it to an all-time high. The US government took a 9.9% stake worth $8.9 billion in August 2025; that position is now worth around $36 billion. Elon Musk's Terafab committed to a $55 billion chip factory partnership in Texas. Amazon signed on for Intel's 18A process node. Q1 2026 earnings came in at $0.29 EPS against expectations of $0.01. Tan's turnaround moves have been real: 15,000 jobs cut, the foundry restructured as a separate subsidiary, a sharper focus on the 18A node. The relationships he's built — with the federal government, with Musk, now potentially with Apple — are genuinely valuable. But the fundamentals are still shaky. Intel's cost per chip runs roughly three times TSMC's. Yield rates sit around 65% versus TSMC's 80%-plus. The 18A process isn't expected to reach industry-standard yields until 2027. The Ohio fabs are delayed to 2030-31. The foundry business lost $2.4 billion in Q1. Internally, employees report vague direction and a culture where missed deadlines get adjusted rather than recovered. The stock is pricing in a future where Intel's manufacturing becomes competitive and major customers commit. None of that is guaranteed yet. What's driving the rally right now is geopolitical necessity and government backing — not proven capability. ## What this actually means Apple talking to Intel and Samsung is a hedge, not a pivot. TSMC remains the best foundry in the world at leading-edge nodes, and Apple knows it. The goal is to have options — to not be completely exposed if something goes wrong in Taiwan, and to have enough of an alternative supply route that TSMC can't treat Apple as a captive customer. For Intel, even a partial Apple order would be transformative for its foundry credibility. For Samsung, same story. Both companies have strong incentives to make this work. Whether their manufacturing can actually deliver at Apple's standards is the question neither company has fully answered yet. --- Tags: [#apple](https://daily.dev/tags/apple), [#intel](https://daily.dev/tags/intel), [#samsung](https://daily.dev/tags/samsung) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/apple-is-talking-to-intel-and-samsung-about-making-its-m-series-chips-dgvdrwdpv) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Apple is talking to Intel and Samsung about making its M-series chips","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/apple-is-talking-to-intel-and-samsung-about-making-its-m-series-chips-dgvdrwdpv","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/apple-is-talking-to-intel-and-samsung-about-making-its-m-series-chips-dgvdrwdpv"},"datePublished":"2026-05-07T19:14:39.292Z","dateModified":"2026-05-15T16:02:07.487Z","description":"Apple is in early-stage exploratory talks with Intel and Samsung to manufacture some of its M-series chips, primarily to reduce dependence on TSMC amid...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c7ce42927453d8b8f6d2ce4b4f965248?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c7ce42927453d8b8f6d2ce4b4f965248?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Collections","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Collections","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fk_6ycEi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996001/logos/collections?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/apple-is-talking-to-intel-and-samsung-about-making-its-m-series-chips-dgvdrwdpv","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"apple,intel,samsung","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collections","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Apple is talking to Intel and Samsung about making its M-series chips"}]} ```