Apple doesn't buy manufacturing companies, however if you can make something they want, they have definitely been known to pay for a dedicated manufacturing line up front.

> Why Apple don't just buy Intel?

Apple doesn't need a fab. They bought P.A. Semi in 2008, which got them microprocessor design talent that lead to Apple Silicon.

> That would allow better vertical integration.

Apple already ships devices with CPUs, GPUs, NPU's (Neural Processing Unit), modem and wi-fi chipsets all designed by them. I'll also add the H2 audio processor in the AirPods.

It's hard to get more vertically integrated than that.

[1]: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2021/11/02/pa-semi-looking...

Apple did buy part of Intel in 2019. From what I was told, Intel failed to deliver a competitive 5G modem in time. Afterwards they sold the entire department to Apple.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/07/apple-to-acquire-the-...

Risky. Apple loves to vertically integrate and they could certainly give a cash infusion, but right now they can bounce between TSMC, Intel and Samsung and probably get sweetheart deals at each because of their scale / the positive press from serving Apple as a customer.

Buyer could not fire existing customers, as Broadcom did with VMware.

China would also block this deal

Good luck with the EU OK-ing this