Five Years After Apple Broke Up With Intel, Intel is Begging for Money

Intel and Apple have been in discussions about how to work more closely together, reports Bloomberg. The talks started after Intel approached Apple about a potential investment, but they are in the early stages and might not result in an agreement.

intel core ultra
Intel has been struggling to compete with other chipmakers, and earlier this year, the company announced that it was cutting 15 percent of its workforce and canceling factories that it planned to build in Europe. Back in August, the U.S. government purchased a 9.9 percent stake in Intel to speed up Intel's Ohio manufacturing plans.

Since then, Nvidia invested $5 billion in Intel for chips for PCs and data centers, and Japanese company SoftBank also invested $2 billion. Intel is said to be reaching out to several other companies about investments and possible partnerships.

Before transitioning to custom Apple silicon chips starting in 2020, Apple used chips designed by Intel for its Macs. Apple no longer relies on Intel's technology, and uses TSMC to manufacture chips that Apple designs.

Apple also worked with Intel on 5G modem chips when it was attempting to move away from Qualcomm technology. Intel was not able to manufacture modem chips that were up to Apple's standards, so the deal fell through. Intel ended up exiting the modem chip business, and selling its modem business to Apple.

There is no chance that Apple would switch back to Intel chips for its products, so it is not clear what kind of deal the two companies could establish. TSMC makes all of Apple's chips, but it is possible that Apple could transition to having some components manufactured by Intel.

Tag: Intel

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Top Rated Comments

hieranonymous Avatar
4 weeks ago
Back when Intel was still bigger than Apple, Steve Jobs approached Intel multiple times about developing custom silicon for Apple’s laptops and smartphones. Intel declined every time. That decision essentially made Intel irrelevant once Apple fully embraced ARM and the rest of the industry followed Apple’s lead. The then-CEO of Intel later admitted that saying no to Jobs was his biggest blunder.
Score: 54 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrENGLISH Avatar
4 weeks ago
Intel intentionally dragged their feet for a full decade before Apple made the switch. It is their own fault they are where they are at today.
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
julesme Avatar
4 weeks ago
If Apple invests, it will (in my opinion) likely be a small amount, a token really, in the spirit of encouraging competition among a (potential) future foundry vendor.

It would be positive for Apple longer-term if there were more foundry businesses for them to partner with.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Martin Bland Avatar
4 weeks ago

Apple also worked with Intel on 5G modem chips when it was attempting to move away from Qualcomm technology. Intel was not able to manufacture modem chips ('https://www.macrumors.com/2019/04/03/intel-delays-5g-iphone-2020/') that were up to Apple's standards, so the deal fell through. Intel ended up exiting ('https://www.macrumors.com/2019/04/16/intel-exits-5g-smartphone-modem-business/') the modem chip business, and selling its modem business to Apple ('https://www.macrumors.com/2019/07/25/apple-intel-acquisition/').
Apple was able to execute with the leftovers of Intel's failure. Intel hasn't been able to execute for over a decade at this point. Intel needs to successfully execute on something to be of interest to Apple. The most interesting for Apple would be for Intel to be a fab alternative to TSMC. But Intel is showing no signs of being able to execute on its process...

Half jokingly, Intel stands a better chance of executing on anything if it offers itself for sale to Apple. At the very low price that Apple prefers.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nom4d Avatar
4 weeks ago
I think the title word begging should be changed. It’s not begging. It’s aggressive partnership-seeking and capital raising is what intel is trying to do.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
IJustWannaTalk Avatar
4 weeks ago
Microsoft did save Apple by investing, once.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)