Apple Eyes Intel Foundry Revival for Future iPhone Chips by 2028

In one of the most significant "full circle" moments in tech history, Apple appears ready to reunite with Intel—not as a processor designer, but as a manufacturing partner. On January 22, 2026, prominent tech analyst Jeff Pu reaffirmed that Apple is in advanced stages of planning to use Intel Foundry as a secondary supplier for future iPhone silicon starting in 2028.

This move marks a strategic shift for Apple, which has relied almost exclusively on Taiwan’s TSMC since the inception of Apple Silicon. While Apple will continue to design its own chips, Intel’s role would be purely as a "foundry"—the factory that brings Apple’s designs to life.

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The Strategy: Diversifying the Silicon Supply Chain

Currently, TSMC is under immense pressure. The explosion of the AI sector has seen giants like Nvidia and AMD competing for every available millimeter of high-end wafer capacity. By tapping Intel, Apple secures a "Plan B" that reduces its over-reliance on a single geographic point of failure.

• Process Node: Apple is specifically targeting Intel’s 14A (1.4nm) process for its 2028 non-Pro iPhone models (likely the A21 or A22 SoCs).
• M-Series Roadmap: Respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts an even earlier collaboration, suggesting Intel could produce low-end M-series chips for select iPads and Macs as early as mid-2027 using the 18A (1.8nm) process.

Strategic Motivations: Why Now?

The motivations behind this partnership are as much about geopolitics as they are about engineering:

1. Domestic Manufacturing: Intel’s expanding footprint in the United States aligns with federal incentives for domestic semiconductor production.
2. Capacity Resilience: By moving "non-Pro" chips to Intel, Apple ensures that TSMC’s most advanced lines are reserved exclusively for the iPhone Pro and "Ultra" tiers.
3. Historical Viability: While Apple famously ditched Intel CPUs in 2020, the two companies successfully collaborated on iPhone modems (iPhone 7 through iPhone 11), proving that Intel can meet Apple’s rigorous factory standards.

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Technical Roadmap: The 14A Milestone

Intel’s 14A process is the cornerstone of its "five nodes in four years" comeback plan. Unlike the Intel-designed processors of old, these will be ARM-based chips designed entirely by Apple.

Feature	Intel 18A	Intel 14A
Est. Production	Late 2026 / 2027	2028
Primary Target	Low-end Mac/iPad	iPhone A-Series (Standard)
Node Size	~1.8nm class	1.4nm class
Key Innovation	PowerVia & RibbonFET	High-NA EUV lithography

Potential Challenges Ahead

Despite the optimism, skeptics point to Intel’s history of foundry delays. To succeed, Intel must prove it can handle Apple-level volumes with high yields—something it hasn't done for an external mobile customer of this scale. Furthermore, assigning Intel the "standard" iPhone chips serves as a litmus test; if Intel succeeds here, they may eventually compete for the high-margin "Pro" silicon in the 2030s.

"Apple is diversifying not because they want to, but because the global demand for 2nm and below is becoming a bottleneck," says analyst Jeff Pu. "Intel's 14A pipeline looks solid enough for Apple to take that calculated risk."

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