The hot trend in big tech now, it seems, is to plow vast amounts of capital into Intel (INTC 8.84%).

Last month, the federal government invested a cool $8.9 billion to own roughly 10% of the chipmaker’s equity. Closely following that, Asian tech conglomerate SoftBank bought into the company with a $2 billion investment. Finally, in September, Nvidia piled in with a $5 billion stock buy.

Now, apparently, Apple (AAPL 1.49%) might be reaching for its wallet, too.

Together again… maybe

On Wednesday, Bloomberg, citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter,” reported that Intel approached Apple regarding such an investment. Officials from the two tech giants also talked about potentially working together. The article didn’t state how much Apple is being asked to invest, or what form future collaboration could take.

Image source: Getty Images.

The report’s sources did say that these discussions are at an early stage. As such, it’s possible they won’t result in any kind of agreement. Additionally, those folks said Intel also contacted other enterprises about investments and partnering up. No names were given, but if this is accurate we can safely assume these are sizable and well-capitalized peer tech companies.

Neither Intel nor Apple commented on the report, and there has been no official word from either following publication.

Previously partners

The pair had a lengthy business relationship in the recent past.

Most notably, in 2006 Intel started manufacturing processors for Apple computers, but over time the latter decided it was more advantageous to bring such critical components in-house. The transition from third-party to homegrown began in 2020, and Apple discontinued the last Intel-powered machine in 2023.

Since then Apple bobbled along, effectively defending its position as a relatively high-end smartphone maker (so far this decade its iPhone has maintained global market share in the high-20% range against the more ubiquitous Android devices).

Intel’s fortunes, however, declined. The PC market that was its bread and butter for many years hasn’t been an inspiring source of growth lately — annual worldwide shipments have fallen more than they’ve risen since 2015, and that takes into account a COVID-fueled spike in 2021.

Meanwhile, the company has been slow and ineffective in embracing powerful, next-generation processors that can handle the heavy demands of artificial intelligence (AI) technology (in contrast to the prescient Nvidia, which is now a powerhouse in the segment). And a long-promised effort to be a chipmaking business for others (or “foundry” in industry parlance) hasn’t gotten much traction.

Money can’t solve every problem

In the wake of the report, Intel’s share price shot up by 6% and Apple’s sagged by 1%. That’s telling me the tech investing hive mind thinks any potential tie-up would be a win for Intel. For Apple, not so much.

That stands to reason. Intel’s major troubles are daunting and deep, and not the kind that can easily be wiped away by infusions of cash (even large ones). That said, getting billions from companies and governments gives Intel at least a fighting chance at tackling the problems and becoming prominent again. So why not accept a fat bag from Apple for a chunk of stock?

It’s harder to see any real advantage for the iPhone maker, though. It probably doesn’t desire any kind of development or manufacturing partnership with Intel; it expended much time, capital, and resources in that proprietary chip effort, after all.

Besides, it has what appears to be a fine relationship with the most successful third-party chippie in the world, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, which cranks out those Apple processors. As far as I can tell, there’s no reason to rock this boat.

A different motivation might lie in the political realm. One of the top Trump administration goals is to bring manufacturing, especially that of the tech variety, back into this country. To that end, in April Apple promised to add $100 million to its investments in this country, adding to an existing $500 billion pledge.

Putting a few of those bucks into Intel would help satisfy this commitment. However, in the announcement, CEO Tim Cook said the extra funding would include “new and expanded work with 10 companies across America. They produce components that are used in Apple products sold all over the world.”

This sounds very much like it’s aiming to channel money to existing business partners, not ones it divorced years ago.

Wisest not to count on it

Ultimately, if I were a betting man I wouldn’t place any money on Apple placing money on Intel. Yes, like Nvidia the company has piles of cash in its treasure chest (over $30 billion at the end of its latest-reported quarter), but it didn’t become the behemoth it is today by spending vaguely or casually. There seems to be, at best, little for it to gain with any level of Intel buy-in.

Yet in the tech world, far more oddball investments have been made, some of which were even successful. So these Intel-Apple discussions are worth monitoring for shareholders of both companies, because one never knows. Still I, for one, am not expecting a reunion of the pair.