The Trump administration is pressing Intel's potential customers and partners, including Apple and Nvidia, to use the company's foundry manufacturing, according to reporting. Under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, yield improvements are underway and Intel's business is trending better.
Semiconductor Strategy · Intel Foundry
Washington Rallies Apple, Nvidia and SpaceX Behind Intel
The Trump administration is pressing Intel's potential customers to adopt its US foundries. With the government now the largest shareholder and CEO Lip-Bu Tan improving yields, Intel is being cast as America's "national champion" — but volume production is still years away.
4×+
Intel stock since Tan took over (Mar 2025)
10%
US government equity stake — largest shareholder
$5.1B
Data-center revenue, up 22% YoY
7-8%
Monthly yield improvement under Tan
The Backers Lining Up
Government, chip giants and a rocket maker — the money and pressure behind Intel.
US Government
Converted ~$9B in subsidies into a 10% equity stake — now largest shareholder; backing New Mexico plant expansion.
Apple
Partial Mac / iPhone chip production at US fabs — preliminary agreement stage, fitting a dual-foundry strategy.
Nvidia
$5B investment; partnership on custom data-center CPUs — "a historic partnership," says Jensen Huang.
SpaceX
Teaming on the Terafab manufacturing initiative in Texas.
18A-P Process: The Technical Edge
Same power vs. same performance — what the advanced node claims to deliver.
+9%
Performance gain at the same power
-18%
Power reduction at the same performance
The Momentum
Yields improving 7-8% per month under Tan
Google Cloud placed large Xeon order for agentic AI
Data-center revenue up 22% YoY to $5.1B
Apple win seen as Foundry's biggest external prize
The Doubts
$10.4B Foundry operating loss over trailing 4 quarters
$3.7B quarterly net loss
Nvidia tested 18A but stopped moving forward
Volume production still 2-3 years away
The Test Case
Winning Apple would be Intel Foundry's biggest external win — and a proving ground for US semiconductor strategy.
The open question, per analysts: can Intel deliver the 14A PDK and meet Apple's required KPIs? With production years off, long-term reliability remains unproven.
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