President Donald Trump announced that Intel has struck a deal with Apple to start producing computer chips in the United States. This move will help Apple diversify its manufacturing base, which largely relies on Taiwan to manufacture the processors that power its iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers.

Impact on iPhone Prices

Apple CEO Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal that price hikes on Apple products are “unavoidable” due to the rising costs of memory and storage chips sparked by the AI boom. Cook stated that the company is doing its best to mitigate the huge increases, but the situation has become unsustainable.

The Trump administration has previously helped Intel, making an $8.9 billion investment in Intel’s stock last August. The government took a roughly 10% stake in the company to help its ongoing efforts to expand research and manufacturing facilities in the US, while ensuring access to a domestic advanced-chip supply chain for national security purposes.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.