President Donald Trump’s late-night Truth Social post announcing a US chipmaking deal between Apple and Intel sent shares of the chipmaker surging 9% in Thursday trading. Among those surprised were Intel’s own executives, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Intel and Apple have been in talks about a deal to manufacture some chips in the US for months now, that person said. The status of those talks could not be learned. An Intel spokesperson declined to provide a comment on Trump’s announcement. An Apple spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US government last year took a large Intel stake, which was worth about $9 billion at the time. The stake is now worth about $67 billion based on today’s market value. “When I walked in the door, they were a dumpster fire,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Semafor in April. Now, “the fire’s out.”
