Apple’s (NASDAQ:APPL) Macintosh desktop and notebooks will be using Intel’s (NASDAQ: INTC) chips for the foreseeable future, according to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich.
Krzanich was on CNBC’s Earnings Central late last week responding to a report by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from KGI securities that Apple was considering ditching Intel’s chips for ARM’s (LON:ARM) A-Series SoCs for future desktop and notebook releases. Krzanich dismissed the claims saying the relationship between Intel and Apple was “strong.”
“Apple is always going to choose the supplier who can provide the most amount of capability in innovation to build on,” he said on the show. “They’re a company based on innovation.”
“I wake up every morning making sure that across the board, whether it’s Apple or Lenovo or Dell or any of our customers, we have the most competitive parts,” he continued.
While moving to ARM-based chips may be a tempting move for Apple’s low-power Macbook Air or superthin iMac, a broad across the board divorce from Intel would cause too many problems in the long run. Apple’s Mac Pro high-margin workstation business, which is virtually ubiquitous in the digital publishing and creative industry, relies on the horsepower that only an Intel Xeon can provide. Furthermore, the software ecosystem from Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) and the like which many rely on for their work is strictly Intel-based and optimized. A transition to ARM would be unthinkable.
For now rumors and reports along this train of thought should be dismissed. But that’s not to say that an ARM-powered Macbook Air would be out of the question.
