INTC stock | Apple stock | US chip stocks gain after Apple-Intel partnership

 Vahid Karaahmetovic

Thu, June 18, 2026 at 3:36 a.m. PDT 2 min read

Investing.com -- Shares of U.S. semiconductor companies climbed in premarket trading Thursday after President Trump said Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and manufacture its chips domestically.

Intel shares jumped 8.9% in the pre-open trade by 06:01 ET (10:01 GMT). Nvidia rose 1.2%, while AMD and Broadcom climbed about 3% each. ARM Holdings, Microchip, Applied Materials and Micron rose between 2.8% and 5%. Marvell Technology jumped 5.8%, and Qualcomm added 2.9%.

Among exchange-traded funds, the iShares Semiconductor ETF rose 3.9%, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF gained 3.3%, and the Roundhill Memory ETF jumped 6.2%.

Trump made the announcement in a social-media post Wednesday. "Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America," he wrote on Truth Social, though he did not provide further details.

He framed the move as part of his administration’s broader push to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S., pointing to Intel’s existing partnerships with Nvidia and with Elon Musk’s TerraFab venture as part of that effort.

Trump also said the federal government’s 10% stake in Intel, taken earlier this year, had risen in value to $60 billion from $10 billion. The Wall Street Journal had reported in early May that Intel and Apple reached a preliminary agreement to develop chips for Apple devices.

The announcement came days after Intel said the newest version of its 18A manufacturing process, known as 18A-P, had entered risk production, citing strong demand for its central processors.

By advancing 18A-P into initial production, Intel is seeking to demonstrate it is delivering on its manufacturing roadmap, a step that could make the technology more attractive to outside customers.

Intel Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan has begun positioning 18A as a potential offering for external clients, a shift from his earlier stance that the process would generate returns only through Intel’s own products.

Intel said 18A-P delivers 9% higher performance than 18A at the same power level, or 18% lower power consumption at the same processing speed, along with improved thermal performance and design flexibility. The company said 18A-P is fully design-rule-compatible with 18A, allowing customers to reuse existing intellectual property and design flows.