Intel has announced a major shift in its business, as it will now produce not only its own chips, but also those of other companies. The new foray into the foundry business means that the company will be manufacturing chips for a variety of high-tech companies. This means that Intel will once again be producing chips for the Mac, and possibly even Apple's silicon chips themselves.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger shared news of Intel's plans, announcing the creation of an independent "Intel Foundry Services" and a $20 billion investment to open several new chip factories in Arizona.

That's not all. The new foundry division is intended to produce ARM and RISC-V chips, positioning Intel to better respond to the industry's move toward ARM-based computing. This is increasingly prevalent through Qualcomm's Snapdragon-based laptops and Apple's M1 MacBook.

Intel has long been the leading Silicon Valley giant, but in recent years it has struggled to adapt to the rapid shift to the mobile market. Meanwhile, companies such as NVIDIA, Apple, and Qualcomm rely heavily on Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) TSMC is used in Apple devices such as the iPad Pro 12.9 (2020), iPhone 12, and MacBook Pro with M1 It is the exclusive producer of Apple silicon and A-series chips.

Seeing that TSMC is the exclusive supplier of these components, could we see yet another Apple-Intel partnership? From Intel's recent ad campaign mocking the Mac, it doesn't seem so far-fetched. It would certainly be food for thought.

By building a stronger U.S. supply chain and easing the semiconductor crisis, Intel could also look to drum up new business from Western governments that have reportedly expressed interest in Intel's foundry business. Nevertheless, while Intel welcomes political efforts to grow its U.S. chip division, Gelsinger said the opening of the new foundry is not dependent on political involvement.

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