Apple Explores U.S. Chipmaking Deals With Intel and Samsung

Apple has opened exploratory talks with Intel and Samsung Electronics about making the main processors for its devices in the United States, a signal that the company is still looking for ways to reduce its dependence on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Apple executives visited a Samsung plant under development in Texas and held early-stage discussions with Intel about its chipmaking services, according to the report. The talks were preliminary, but they underscored how central Apple remains to the global semiconductor supply chain and how much weight one sourcing decision can carry for U.S. industrial policy.

For Washington, the question is no longer whether companies can announce domestic chip projects. It is whether they can deliver the cost, scale and technical precision needed for the most advanced processors. Apple has already committed heavily to U.S. manufacturing. In February 2025, it said it would spend more than $500 billion in the United States over four years, including a multibillion-dollar commitment to produce advanced silicon in TSMC’s Fab 21 in Arizona. Apple said it was TSMC’s largest customer there, and TSMC said its Phoenix facility employed more than 2,000 workers making chips in the United States. Apple later said it would raise its U.S. commitment to $600 billion over four years and launch an American Manufacturing Program.

The company has also pushed deeper into the packaging side of chip production. In November 2023, Apple said it would be the first and largest customer of Amkor’s advanced packaging facility in Peoria, Arizona, where Apple silicon from nearby TSMC fabs would be packaged. That strategy suggests Apple has already been testing how much of its supply chain can be brought onto American soil without sacrificing the performance demanded by iPhones, Macs and other devices.

Intel and Samsung are both trying to position themselves as alternatives. Intel said it planned to invest more than $100 billion in U.S. chipmaking, including more than $32 billion in Arizona, and launched Intel Foundry in February 2024 as a systems foundry for the AI era. Samsung announced a planned $17 billion fab in Taylor, Texas, in 2021 and later said it would receive up to $6.4 billion in direct CHIPS and Science Act funding for the site. TSMC, meanwhile, said in March 2025 that it would add another $100 billion to its U.S. investment, bringing the total to $165 billion, with the expansion expected to support 40,000 construction jobs and tens of thousands of high-paying manufacturing jobs.

Apple’s supplier network still spans thousands of facilities in more than 60 countries, which shows how difficult a rapid reshoring shift would be. Even so, the fact that Apple is exploring additional U.S. production paths suggests the next battle over chips will not just be about where they are made, but whether American factories can finally match the scale and sophistication the world’s biggest device maker requires.