Apple Flirts With Adding Intel, Samsung into Main Chip Supply Chain – The Daily Upside

Apple’s supply chain and manufacturing dependencies have turned problematic in the age of tariffs and friend-shoring.
Sean Craig
sean.craig@thedailyupside.com
Two chipmakers are the new apples of Apple’s eye.
The $4.1 trillion tech giant has had early-stage discussions about using Intel and Samsung as suppliers for the main processors in its devices, sources told Bloomberg News on Tuesday, in what would be a geopolitical and supply-chain hedge against its lead supplier in Taiwan.
Apple’s supply chain dependencies have turned problematic in the age of tariffs and friend-shoring. In 2025, the company ramped up iPhone manufacturing in India by more than 50% to 55 million units, or 25% of total output, as it reduced risk from trade fisticuffs between the US and China.
Securing chips in the US from Santa Clara, California-based Intel and South Korea’s Samsung, which is building an advanced chip plant in Texas,would diversify another part of Apple’s supply chain away from geopolitical risk. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Apple’s longtime chip supplier and partner, is exposed to Beijing’s “one-China principle.” Apple would also have a hedge against production bottlenecks at TSMC, which have been especially onerous amid massive AI demand and highlighted the need for more suppliers. If Samsung and Intel were to become those suppliers, each would score a massive customer, adding to a hot run of deals for Intel:
Don’t Hold Your Breath: The talks, according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg, are just that. No orders have been placed, considerations are preliminary, and Apple could well call the whole thing off. But, even with Intel’s more than 100% jump last month, the mere news that it was being scouted by Apple drove its shares up 13% to a new record on Tuesday (Samsung also rose 6%).
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