Apple’s $30B Broadcom Deal Signals Expansions in AI, U.S. Supply Chain

2026-07-10T12:50:28Z

A $30 billion deal with Broadcom this week signals Apple’s growth into data center operations, as well as a strengthening of the U.S. supply chain and a new business opportunity for Intel, according to analysts interviewed by EE Times.

Apple on July 8 announced a multiyear deal with Broadcom to make custom silicon and supply wireless connectivity tech for Apple products. The deal, expected to be worth more than $30 billion, is part of Apple’s plan to invest $600 billion in the U.S. economy over four years, supporting the return of electronics manufacturing, job creation, and technology development.

Broadcom is part of Apple’s American Manufacturing Program (AMP), launched last year to boost U.S. manufacturing. The Broadcom deal is Apple’s largest AMP commitment yet, helping Broadcom expand its facilities in Fort Collins, Colorado, with Apple’s $1.5 billion capital expenditure investment. Broadcom will make advanced radio frequency components—including FBAR (film bulk acoustic resonator) filters—for Apple at Fort Collins.

The deal will result in more than 15 billion chips made in the U.S. and boost hundreds of American jobs. Apple has been working with the U.S. government and businesses to help create an end-to-end silicon supply chain in America.

“The Apple-Broadcom agreement is being driven in the background by the massive geopolitical shift from a globally open economic system focused on efficiency to a regionally based one focused on national security and supply chain security where onshoring trumps cost efficiency,” TechInsights vice chair Dan Hutcheson told EE Times. “This new deal emphasizes Apple’s commitment to its AMP from

Apple currently buys Wi-Fi/Bluetooth combo SoCs and RF front-end modules from Broadcom, Hutcheson noted.

“Apple has been integrating its Wi-Fi/Bluetooth designs into its SoCs,” he said. “Apple also gets FBAR filters from Broadcom. These are critical for wireless applications.”

An FBAR filter works in mobile devices and wireless systems to isolate radio waves, allowing desired signals such as 5G or Wi-Fi to pass while blocking interfering frequencies.

The Apple agreement will add about $6 billion a year to Broadcom’s sales revenue through 2031, Hutcheson estimated. Apple’s investment in Broadcom’s Fort Collins fab is aimed at getting “access,” he noted.

“My sense is that getting access to chips made in Broadcom’s Fort Collins facility is what Apple is most interested in given their AMP commitment,” Hutcheson added. “The second item on Apple’s shopping list has to be Broadcom’s expertise in custom silicon. The $1.5 billion (Fort Collins investment) may not sound like a lot. This is not an advanced logic fab, where upgrades run in the $10+ billion range and greenfield facilities at $30+ billion. Fort Collins is a 200-mm RF fab.”

Rebuilding U.S. ecosystem

Nearly three years ago,

“The Apple-Broadcom alliance does help to reshore U.S. manufacturing in terms of focusing on the fly-over technologies that typically get overlooked as all the attention goes to advanced logic,” Hutcheson said.

Apple still has gaps to close before it has a 100% U.S.-based chip supply chain.

In February this year, Apple said it was ramping production of its first U.S.-made chips at TSMC’s Arizona facility to well over 100 million units in 2026. That claim was only partly true because the

AI expansion

The Broadcom deal also signals Apple’s expansion into AI data centers and potentially new business for Intel, International Business Strategies CEO Handel Jones told EE Times.

“Having large internal data center capacity will be important for Apple in the future,” Jones said. “Apple is planning to design its own data center chips, and Broadcom is expected to support development. Intel is likely to be a winner from the Apple data center design with its 14A.”

Intel 14A is the chipmaker’s next 1.4-nm-class node positioned as Intel Foundry’s flagship offering for high-performance computing, AI, and mobile applications. Apple is evaluating Intel as an alternative to TSMC,

In June this year, Apple announced a push into AI with the debut of Siri AI and the next generation of Apple Intelligence. Compared with the hundreds of data centers run by hyperscalers such as Google and Amazon, Apple runs fewer than 20, mainly in the U.S., as well as in China and Denmark.

Broadcom’s leadership in SerDes chips will be important for Apple’s data center expansion, Jones noted. SerDes chips bridge the gap between a processor’s slow, wide internal data paths and the faster, narrow serial links required to move data across a data center network.

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RELATED TOPICS: AI AND BIG DATA AI CHIPS BIG DATA CHIPLET CUSTOM SILICON DATA CENTERS GEOPOLITICS SEMICONDUCTORS SOC SUPPLY CHAIN AND DISTRIBUTION

COMPANIES: APPLE BROADCOM INTEL INTEL FOUNDRY TSMC

Alan has worked as an electronics journalist in Asia for most of his career. In addition to EE Times, he has been a reporter and an editor for Bloomberg News and Dow Jones Newswires. He has lived for more than 30 years in Hong Kong and Taipei and has covered tech companies in the greater China region during that time. Follow Alan on LinkedIn

Alan has worked as an electronics journalist in Asia for most of his career. In addition to EE Times, he has been a reporter and an editor for Bloomberg News and Dow Jones Newswires. He has lived for more than 30 years in Hong Kong and Taipei and has covered tech companies in the greater China region during that time.