WSJ: Apple avoided semiconductor tariffs last year thanks to Intel chip deal

[soAsian]

Tim Cook was under pressure from the White House last summer when he fielded an unusual request.

The Apple chief was in Washington, scrambling to persuade the Trump administration to abandon its plan to impose tariffs of 100% on all semiconductor imports, a move that would likely increase the cost of its most important products.

Apple eventually won an exemption after committing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars more in the U.S. In the course of their meetings with Cook, President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also brought up another American company: the troubled chip maker Intel.

WSJ: Apple avoided semiconductor tariffs last year thanks to Intel chip deal - 9to5Mac

Intel in the U.S. is expected to make at least some upcoming Mac and iPhone chips for Apple. That recent...

9to5mac.com

that 10% Intel stake for US government is paying off for Intel.

 

[Barnsley]

Oh how we laughed

 

[Paul2]

View attachment 4862

Tim Cook was under pressure from the White House last summer when he fielded an unusual request.

The Apple chief was in Washington, scrambling to persuade the Trump administration to abandon its plan to impose tariffs of 100% on all semiconductor imports, a move that would likely increase the cost of its most important products.

Apple eventually won an exemption after committing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars more in the U.S. In the course of their meetings with Cook, President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also brought up another American company: the troubled chip maker Intel.

WSJ: Apple avoided semiconductor tariffs last year thanks to Intel chip deal - 9to5Mac

Intel in the U.S. is expected to make at least some upcoming Mac and iPhone chips for Apple. That recent...

9to5mac.com

that 10% Intel stake for US government is paying off for Intel.

That's how Apple kept no tariff iphone going when everyone was paying 167%

Brands that realised profit outside of US (mostly mainlanders) were crushed completely, and left the market

 

[Daniel Nenni]

View attachment 4862

Tim Cook was under pressure from the White House last summer when he fielded an unusual request.

The Apple chief was in Washington, scrambling to persuade the Trump administration to abandon its plan to impose tariffs of 100% on all semiconductor imports, a move that would likely increase the cost of its most important products.

Apple eventually won an exemption after committing to invest hundreds of billions of dollars more in the U.S. In the course of their meetings with Cook, President Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also brought up another American company: the troubled chip maker Intel.

I wish they would stop calling Intel the troubled chip maker.

Lip-Bu Tan bought 1,043,406 Intel shares at $23.96 per share, for a total of about $25 million, on March 21, 2025—three days after starting as CEO. The current value now is more than $100M. Not troubled at all it seems.

 

[blueone]

I wish they would stop calling Intel the troubled chip maker.

Lip-Bu Tan bought 1,043,406 Intel shares at $23.96 per share, for a total of about $25 million, on March 21, 2025—three days after starting as CEO. The current value now is more than $100M. Not troubled at all it seems.

Intel's stock price does not seem like a good indicator of Intel's financials or market position. Positive things have been happening with fabrication, CPU production, and CPU demand, but I still view Intel as, overall, in the troubled category. Lots of stocks have higher share prices than their financials or market position warrant. I think Intel is like that.

How much do you think Intel's stock price is supported by a USG investment, and positive vibes from Trump? I think a lot.

Still no compelling AI strategy (it's still too soon to judge SambaNova), no networking strategy noted, no storage strategy noted, CPU strategy on client or server does not seem like leadership yet.

 

[Paul2]

Intel's stock price does not seem like a good indicator of Intel's financials or market position. Positive things have been happening with fabrication, CPU production, and CPU demand, but I still view Intel as, overall, in the troubled category. Lots of stocks have higher share prices than their financials or market position warrant. I think Intel is like that.

How much do you think Intel's stock price is supported by a USG investment, and positive vibes from Trump? I think a lot.

Still no compelling AI strategy (it's still too soon to judge SambaNova), no networking strategy noted, no storage strategy noted, CPU strategy on client or server does not seem like leadership yet.

The share buyers' speculative expectation is that Intel will become another GM, and will be bailed out, and force fed government money ad-infinium. Not a good reason to celebrate the increase in the deemed value of a business.

 

[siliconbruh999]

The share buyers' speculative expectation is that Intel will become another GM, and will be bailed out, and force fed government money ad-infinium. Not a good reason to celebrate the increase in the deemed value of a business.

The bail out part is obvious at this point of time

 

[Xebec]

Still no compelling AI strategy (it's still too soon to judge SambaNova), no networking strategy noted, no storage strategy noted, CPU strategy on client or server does not seem like leadership yet.

+Customer trust issues, manufacturing profitability challenges, possible sunken cost fallacy in GPUs... (on Servers they've even admitted not leadership this year).

I think the earliest (in my head) they can exit 'troubled' status now is probably 2030.

 

[blueone]

+Customer trust issues, manufacturing profitability challenges, possible sunken cost fallacy in GPUs... (on Servers they've even admitted not leadership this year).

I think the earliest (in my head) they can exit 'troubled' status now is probably 2030.

I think you hit the bullseye.

 

[siliconbruh999]

Still no compelling AI strategy (it's still too soon to judge SambaNova), no networking strategy noted, no storage strategy noted, CPU strategy on client or server does not seem like leadership yet.

Uhh CPU strategy on Client is fine imo Server is a bit messed up Client is the part without issue Unified Core exists for that. In server they at least got a plan Networking is MIA and for GPU we should wait for CRI to judge if it arrives or get the cancelled hammer.

 

[MKWVentures]

IMO Intel will no longer be "struggling" when they
1) break even on foundry
2) have revenue and earnings close to 2021 (everyone else has doubled)
3) increase market share closer to 2021
4) have a DC AI Product

The "turnaround" is based on LBT fixing the very problematic balance sheet and getting equity investments from others..... then the stock skyrocketing. Those are great but not related to actual execution.

Just a thought. I will have more details and a blog after earnings are reported. There are a ton of potential financial swings with capex, CPU pricing, refinancing apollo, and ramps on INtel 7, 3, 18A. should be fun

 

[blueone]

Uhh CPU strategy on Client is fine

Not what my friends into PCs say. AMD usually has the best client parts. Tom's Hardware and Club386 seems to agree. Being a Mac guy myself, and my wife's PC computing is about as strenuous as a yoga chair workout, so I'm not personally a good hands-on judge.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpus,3986.html

Best CPU 2026: AMD and Intel chips go head-to-head

Find the perfect CPU for your needs, whether that's an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D for gaming, or an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K for content creation.

www.club386.com

 

[siliconbruh999]

Not what my friends into PCs say. AMD usually has the best client parts. Tom's Hardware and Club386 seems to agree. Being a Mac guy myself, and my wife's PC computing is about as strenuous as a yoga chair workout, so I'm not personally a good hands-on judge.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-cpus,3986.html

Best CPU 2026: AMD and Intel chips go head-to-head

Find the perfect CPU for your needs, whether that's an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D for gaming, or an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K for content creation.

www.club386.com

That's only DIY Desktop on Laptop and Mobile they outright have better parts vs AMD also this is going to be addressed with Nova Lake for bLLC big large last level cache similar to AMD X3D.

 

[Xebec]

That's only DIY Desktop on Laptop and Mobile they outright have better parts vs AMD also this is going to be addressed with Nova Lake for bLLC big large last level cache similar to AMD X3D.

I think you're both right. AMD is in a better position on the desktop right now because of 1. platform longevity for DIY, and 2. 3D cache stacking technology. If you take away the 3D cache stacking - Intel already has higher performance chips across all applications, with comparable efficiency (though using N3B vs AMD's N4). The economics of Intel on TSMC N3B vs. AMD on N4 + 3D stacked cache isn't clear.

Nova Lake has a chance to finally turn the table back to Intel's favor and give them actual "leadership" status, but they're still not there in 2026. (Nova Lake volume is 2027). Intel does have overall leadership on Mobile IMO.

We'll have a good idea of what AMD's 2027-2028 desktop lineup is going to be like in a few weeks, when AMD launches Zen 6 for servers. "Venice".

 

[blueone]

That's only DIY Desktop on Laptop and Mobile they outright have better parts vs AMD

That's not the feedback I hear, especially about battery life.

also this is going to be addressed with Nova Lake for bLLC big large last level cache similar to AMD X3D.

I hope you're right.

 

[siliconbruh999]

That's not the feedback I hear, especially about battery life.

Please tell me they are using recent Intel Laptop not Intel 7 CPUs cause LNL/PTL there is substantial improvement and this is from the feedback i got from people who have the devices.

 

[blueone]

Please tell me they are using recent Intel Laptop not Intel 7 CPUs cause LNL/PTL there is substantial improvement and this is from the feedback i got from people who have the devices.

Sorry, I don't remember the specific configurations they discussed, but it was only about six weeks ago. I like the feedback you got better.

 

[Xebec]

Please tell me they are using recent Intel Laptop not Intel 7 CPUs cause LNL/PTL there is substantial improvement and this is from the feedback i got from people who have the devices.

Panther Lake pretty much destroys everything right now on mobile. But it's high cost ..

 

[siliconbruh999]

Panther Lake pretty much destroys everything right now on mobile. But it's high cost ..

well i think every OEM has screamed enough but RAM is the biggest BOM in your laptop now not the CPU i don't think it's expensive from the stuff i have heard relative to the competition.

 

[blueone]

well i think every OEM has screamed enough but RAM is the biggest BOM in your laptop now not the CPU i don't think it's expensive from the stuff i have heard relative to the competition.

DRAM share of wallet has kept Intel execs up at night for more than a couple of decades. That paranoia is what spawned 3DXPT. The thing is, there's price competition in CPUs, but virtually none in DRAM. So I think @Xebec has a point.