MW Intel's stock could achieve a never-before-seen feat as Apple enthusiasm builds
By Christine Ji
Intel is in the midst of transforming its business, with shares up 17% on Friday following a fresh sign of a future Apple manufacturing partnership
Shares of Intel have risen nearly 240% this year.
Intel's stock was cruising toward fresh highs after the chip maker seemingly secured its latest high-profile customer: Apple.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Intel $(INTC)$ has reached a preliminary agreement with Apple $(AAPL)$ to manufacture some of the iPhone maker's chips. The news saw shares of Intel extend their gains Friday, with the stock up 17% and trading at $128.71, at last check.
With their latest gains, Intel shares were on pace to climb 24% on the week, which would make for their third week in a row with a 20%-plus increase. That's never happened before in Intel's history, when looking at data going back to 1980.
The Journal report follows a Bloomberg article on Tuesday that revealed Apple was in talks to partner with Intel and Samsung (KR:005930) on U.S. chip-manufacturing initiatives.
Intel and Apple did not immediately respond to a MarketWatch request for comment.
Read: Intel is now worth more than Oracle as its stock explodes higher
Under the leadership of CEO Lip-Bu Tan, Intel is staging an astonishing turnaround. When Tan took over in 2025, he inherited a company that had ceded much of its chip-manufacturing lead to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing $(TSM)$. Tan went to work cutting costs, securing government backing and shifting the company's focus to artificial intelligence and foundry services.
Today, Intel's stock is the top year-to-date performer in the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX, up nearly 240%.
The U.S. government, meanwhile, has seen the value of its Intel stake grow more than 500% since August 2025, when the Trump administration agreed to invest in the company. The government made Intel the poster child for U.S. domestic silicon production
Intel's foundry business has rapidly picked up momentum in recent months. Last year, Nvidia (NVDA) made a $5 billion investment in Intel as part of a deal to jointly develop custom data-center and personal-computer products. Intel also joined Elon Musk's Terafab chip project in April.
The latest partnership marks significant departure from Apple's tradition of working primarily with TSM. Amid a memory crunch and other supply-chain constraints that have left Apple unable to meet customer demand, the company is now looking to expand its chip supplier base.
Both Intel and Apple have leaned into U.S. industrial policy to support their long-term manufacturing and expansion efforts. Apple CEO Tim Cook has accelerated the company's focus on domestic production through a $600 billion investment commitment.
Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani wrote that the to-be-confirmed report bodes well for Apple, as it would offer "long-term supply-chain resilience, add foundry optionality and give [Apple] more flexibility as leading-edge capacity tightens into future device ramps."
More: How Intel's CEO brought the storied company back from the brink
-Christine Ji
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May 08, 2026 15:13 ET (19:13 GMT)
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