MOU Suggestion for Intel Foundry and Apple: The 21 Chip Plan

Purpose

(a) Provide a sovereign scale MOU structure between Intel Foundry and Apple that is big enough to mobilize the U.S. tool chain and stable enough to survive quarterly market predation
(b) Prevent the strategic misallocation of CHIPS Act capacity into low margin consumer electronics
(c) Create a measurable, calendarized industrial program that can be executed over 3 to 5 years with clear milestones

Immediate Context

(a) Intel reports earnings Thursday
(b) Intel’s stock is vulnerable because long cycle industrial ramps are being judged on 90 day cycles
(c) Public chatter about “Apple signing Intel” is being interpreted as “Intel makes iPhone chips”
(d) A one chip consumer deal is not a stabilizer and not a sovereign program

Sovereign Premise

Intel Foundry and CHIPS Act capacity exist for sovereign production, defense aligned compute, and national resilience, not consumer electronics. If Intel is pushed into consumer chip contracting as a rescue narrative, the sovereign mission is diluted and the industrial timeline is put at risk.

The Problem With A One Chip Apple Deal

(a) It does not mobilize upstream tooling priority
(b) It does not justify accelerated staffing or capex expansion
(c) It burns sovereign capacity for low margin output
(d) It creates no durable multi year demand visibility
(e) It invites short cycle predation and supply side dumping

One chip is a sippy cup order. A real program must be large enough to force alignment.

Tool Chain Reality

(a) Advanced node output is gated by tooling, metrology, yield systems, and process integration
(b) Tool makers allocate priority to multi year platform commitments, not one off consumer chips
(c) The relevant suppliers include
(1) ASML
(2) KLA
(3) Applied Materials
(4) Lam Research
(5) Tokyo Electron

The Thesis

If Apple is going to align with Intel Foundry, it must be a sovereign scale multi year platform program, not a one chip consumer deal.

The 21 Chip Plan

(a) Apple signs a Memorandum of Understanding committing to 21 chip platforms manufactured on Intel Foundry over 3 to 5 years
(b) The 21 chip platforms are organized as 7 product silos, 3 chips per silo
(c) Two silos are dedicated AI
(1) one vertical for training
(2) one vertical for inference
(d) The remaining silos cover Apple’s device and compute portfolio and must be defined in the MOU with SKU family clarity
(e) Intel Foundry assigns dedicated capacity, staffing, and a named node roadmap to the program, with measurable delivery gates

Delivery Model

(a) The commitment must be large enough to mobilize the tool chain
(b) The rollout must be paced so it is executable and digestible
(c) Example pacing
(1) 12 month lead time for staffing, prototypes, tool staging
(2) then 6 chip platforms per year for 2.5 years
(d) Acceptable alternative pacing
(1) delivery over 3 to 5 years
(2) binding, measurable milestones
(e) Lifecycle expectation
(1) minimum 3 years
(2) extendable to 10 years

Governance And Milestones

(a) Joint program office for Apple, Intel Foundry, and U.S. oversight
(b) Milestone calendar must be explicit and measurable
(1) architecture freeze dates
(2) tapeout dates
(3) prototype gates
(4) yield targets
(5) volume ramp gates
(c) Tool chain commitment letters should be secured contingent on program scale and schedule
(d) Public framing must be controlled
(1) sovereign production
(2) AI infrastructure
(3) defense aligned compute
(e) Explicit exclusions should be stated
(1) this is not an iPhone chip rescue plan
(2) this is not a consumer electronics subsidy
(3) this is a sovereign industrial rebuild

What Success Looks Like

(a) Apple regains strategic independence by building a real AI stack instead of outsourcing the core agent layer
(b) Intel Foundry gains a credible anchor program that justifies tooling priority and workforce scale
(c) The tool ecosystem receives multi year demand certainty sufficient to justify accelerated staffing and capex
(d) The market receives a real industrial calendar instead of a one quarter narrative

Bottom Line

(a) One chip is a stunt
(b) A handful of chips is a garden hose
(c) Twenty one chips is a sovereign mandate
(d) Sovereignty beats consumer folly

Public Record

(1) Submitted to the White House via https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ on January 20, 2026
(2) Archived here for public review

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