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Working with Advocus Partners, BPC polled 1,000 voters in late April and found broad support for congressional action on housing reform.

Intel Jumps To Record High On Deal To Make Chips For Apple, Following White House Pressure

Already looking like something right out of the dot com bubble, Intel stock soared even more moments ago, surging almost 20% and hitting a new all time high over $130 (it was trading at $80 a few days ago), after the WSJ reported that the White House-backed chipmaker has reached a preliminary agreement to manufacture some of the chips that power Apple devices. Which is ironic as just 6 short years ago Apple surprised the market when it announced it was parting ways with Intel, replacing the company's chips with its own, a move which was dubbed a huge success. Now, following intense White House pressure, it has decided to reverse this decision. 

While it is well known that talks between the two companies have been ongoing for more than a year - which has been one of the reasons for Intel's recent meteoric advance - they hammered out a formal deal in recent months. 

It’s still unclear which Apple products Intel would make chips for, if any, or if today's PR was just to plant the seeds for the US to sell its Intel stake after Trump was boasting recently how much money he made for US taxpayers since getting a big stake in the company last summer when it was trading below $20. 

Intel has two main business lines: designing chips and manufacturing them - both its own designs and external customers’ - in its Intel Foundry unit. Both businesses had been underperforming for years before Lip-Bu Tan took over as chief executive last spring vowing to revitalize them.  

Following our advice from August 7, 2025...

The Pentagon took a stake in US rare earth miner MP Materials... when will it do the same with Intel

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 7, 2025

... one week later, on August 14, the Trump administration struck a deal to convert nearly $9 billion in federal grants into Intel stock, giving the U.S. government a 10% stake in the chip-maker.

And the key bit from the WSJ report: the White House "played a key role in bringing Apple to the table."

According to the report, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has met repeatedly over the last year with high-ranking Apple officials, including CEO Tim Cook, as well as SpaceX chief Elon Musk and Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang, to try to convince them to get into business with Intel, some of the people familiar with the matter said.

And with the Apple deal, Intel has now signed partnerships with all three. Now it remains to be seen if any of the three will actually use Intel's chips for more than just press release bullet points. 

Over the last decade, Intel fell badly behind rivals such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung Electronics after a series of technical missteps, leadership changes and failed attempts at consolidation led outside foundry customers to pull or curb their business.

When Intel hired Tan in March 2025 to replace ousted CEO Pat Gelsinger, Trump raised concerns that Tan’s close ties with China would compromise him and called for his ouster.  But Tan won Trump over with a charm offensive, and the government announced its 10% investment in Intel shortly after. Following the investment, Intel’s share price rose sharply. On Friday morning it rose 7.5% to an all-time high of nearly $118 per share. 

Tan has been reshaping Intel’s top leadership ranks in recent months as well, including hiring former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing executive Wei-Jen Lo, a move that prompted a lawsuit from TSMC. 

The Intel CEO also ousted his head of product and hired new executives to lead the company’s data center processor and client computing units, as well as a newly formed custom silicon business. He has also invested heavily in Intel’s most-advanced manufacturing process, known as 14A.  

President Trump personally advocated for Intel to Cook in a meeting at the White House, according to people familiar with the matter.

“I like Intel,” President Trump said in January. He said the government had made “tens of billions of dollars” from the Intel deal, and that the government’s backing of the company had attracted important partners to Intel. 

“As soon as we went in, Apple went in, Nvidia went in, a lot of smart people went in,” President Trump said. 

Nvidia invested $5 billion in Intel in September and the two companies announced a partnership under which Intel would build custom data center CPUs for Nvidia. And last month, Elon Musk and Intel announced an ambitious plan to build a chip manufacturing plant in Texas as part of Musk’s  Terafab project to produce chips for Tesla, xAI and SpaceX. 

Apple relies on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing to make the chips it designs for iPhones, iPads, Macs and other devices, and is under pressure to find additional chip suppliers. On Apple’s last two earnings conference calls, Cook has blamed a lack of availability of advanced chips for Apple’s inability to meet customer demand for iPhones.

The constraints are expected to continue into the current quarter, affecting several Mac models, Cook said. “We think, looking forward, that the Mac Mini and the Mac Studio may take several months to reach supply-demand balance,” Cook said. Last Friday, the day after the earnings call, Apple raised the Mac Mini’s starting price.

TSMC’s manufacturing capabilities far surpass those of Samsung and Intel. Makers of other kinds of chips, for memory and storage for example, are more competitive with one another, giving Apple multiple sources of supply.

Apple has long been TSMC’s top customer, but skyrocketing demand for its manufacturing capacity from Nvidia and other designers of AI chips means Apple no longer has as much leverage to secure the supplies it needs. Starting in 2006, Apple used Intel-designed CPUs as the main processors for its personal computers, but switched to its own custom CPUs, based on a design architecture from Arm Holding, in 2020.

As for Intel stock, while we have enjoyed the recent meltup, the reversal - when it comes - will be painful.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 13:26

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Shelton was notably absent when Stefani and No Doubt kicked off their residency at the iconic Las Vegas venue on Wednesday night.

Shelton was notably absent when Stefani and No Doubt kicked off their residency at the iconic Las Vegas venue on Wednesday night.

“I think about it once a week," the reality star admitted of her 2022 red carpet glam.

“I think about it once a week," the reality star admitted of her 2022 red carpet glam.

Japanese exporters are having to cope with President Trump’s tariff hikes and other higher costs that have been worsened by the war in Iran.

The one-time missionary of the Chi Alpha Campus Ministry referred to as "the holiest man alive" by other pastors was accused of sexually abusing two boys in the 2023 criminal case.

Olympic pole vaulter Alysha Newman landed a tryout with Victoria’s Secret after she received a 20-month suspension on April 29 by the Athletics Integrity Unit for missing drug tests.

The Big Apple is flying Zo-lo. Billionaire former Mayor Michael Bloomberg subtly shaded his socialist successor, Zohran Mamdani, when snapped by the paparazzi Thursday night. As Bloomberg, 84, and his longtime partner Diana Taylor arrived at the New York City Ballet’s 2026 Spring gala, the paps fawningly begged him to run again for mayor, shouting,...

Each week, The California Post will power rank MLB’s 30 teams and check in on one intriguing awards race. Here is this week’s edition (records through Thursday night): 1.) Yankees (26-12) Another week, another new No. 1. While the previously top-ranked Braves were fine this week (4-2 on a Colorado/Seattle road trip), the Yankees just...

Vaccine Trade Returns? Moderna Working On Hantavirus Shot Sends Shares Higher

Moderna is out with timely news that it is working on early-stage research on vaccines targeting hantaviruses. The news comes as a Spanish woman has been hospitalized for a suspected infection, while a hantavirus cluster has ravaged a Dutch-flagged cruise ship, with five confirmed and three suspected cases of hantavirus. Three deaths have been reported so far.

Bloomberg reports that Moderna is collaborating with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases on hantavirus vaccine research and is also working with Korea University College of Medicine's Vaccine Innovation Center on a potential vaccine.

"These efforts are early-stage and ongoing and reflect Moderna's broader responsibility to develop countermeasures against emerging infectious diseases," Moderna said.

Moderna said its work on hantavirus vaccines began before the cruise ship Hondius reported an outbreak while anchored off the coast of Cape Verde, on the west coast of Africa, last week.

Anais Legand, a technical officer at the World Health Organization (WHO), provided an update earlier today stating that all remaining passengers on the Hondius have left the ship without symptoms.

"They will be asked to take their temperature every single day for 42 days. They will be asked to check every day for other symptoms like feeling unwell or a headache," Legand said, adding, "They will be provided with someone to contact. If they're not feeling well, it's up to the national authorities where people will go next."

WHO Emergencies Communications Lead Nyka Alexander stated in a livestreamed update earlier that "the risk to the public remains low."

Hantaviruses are zoonotic viruses that naturally infect rodents and can occasionally spread to people.

Here’s what you need to know about #hantavirus: What they are, how they spread, the symptoms, and how to prevent infection pic.twitter.com/pduUjlwl2j

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 8, 2026

Nevertheless, the news sent Moderna shares higher around noon. Shares had already been rising after the company reported that its mRNA flu vaccine outperformed in a late-stage study, likely driving early market activity. Shares are up 18%.

President Trump told an ABC News reporter on Thursday that "It's very much, we hope, under control." 

HANTAVIRUS UPDATE: President Trump is monitoring the hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship that has already resulted in three deaths.

Spain is preparing for the vessel’s arrival as officials track about 40 people, including Americans, who left the ship before the… pic.twitter.com/pPoppLn8N8

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 8, 2026

Polymarket:

//--> //--> Hantavirus pandemic in 2026?
Yes 9% · No 91%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

It is only a matter of time before other struggling biotech companies announce that they, too, are developing vaccines to prevent the next potential pandemic. This follows the Covid playbook.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 13:05

“The Valley” star Janet Caperna is having a busy season, which is why “Virtual Reali-Tea” co-hosts Danny Murphy and Evan Real were so excited she had time to stop by and unpack all of the drama! We had to ask her about her sit-down with frenemy Zack Wickham, and also the not-so “peace pipe” with...

“The Valley” star Janet Caperna is having a busy season, which is why “Virtual Reali-Tea” co-hosts Danny Murphy and Evan Real were so excited she had time to stop by and unpack all of the drama! We had to ask her about her sit-down with frenemy Zack Wickham, and also the not-so “peace pipe” with...

A pair of New Jersey residents may have been exposed to hantavirus after possibly coming into contact with passengers of the Dutch cruise ship that suffered a deadly outbreak.

A rags-to-riches story opened its next chapter Thursday.

ABC's filing called for the FCC to protect broadcasters' "good faith news judgment" as the 2026 election approaches.

Costco is planning an expansion of its stores in California with two new stores set to open soon.

OnlyFans Lures Outside Capital As Architect Capital And Billionaire Tag Team Deal

Nearly seven weeks after OnlyFans owner and billionaire Leonid Radvinsky died, and after months of reports that the sex-worker streaming platform was exploring a stake sale, the Financial Times reported Friday morning that San Francisco-based Architect Capital is preparing to buy a minority stake in the company.

Australian billionaire James Packer, best known as the former head of the Packer family's media and casino empire, is expected to be among a group of investors lined up to support Architect Capital's deal to acquire a 15% stake in OnlyFans at a $3.1 billion valuation, according to FT's sources.

The deal would leave control of OnlyFans with the family trust headed by Katie Chudnovsky, widow of late owner Leonid, who acquired OnlyFans in 2018 via Fenix International.

Leonid died in March at 43. He was apparently battling cancer for several years. 

Top OnlyFans creator pornstar Sophie Rain mourned the death of Leonid, saying back in March how he "built something that changed my entire life. Like, I grew up on food stamps and now I can take care of my whole family because of a platform he created. I will never forget that." 

Radvinsky studied economics at Northwestern University and by 2018 had bought a majority stake in OnlyFans and helped transform the video content platform into an adult-content subscription business powerhouse that reshaped how sex workers monetize their bodies. 

OnlyFans was founded in 2016 and exploded in popularity during the Covid pandemic. Some of the latest data from 2024 showed the website had 4.6 million creators, 377 million fans, and $1.4 billion in revenue.

As we've previously noted, Americans spent an estimated $2.6 billion on OnlyFans subscriptions in 2025.

OnlyFans is bringing in outside capital without giving up control while leaving Radvinsky's wife in charge. This may suggest the family trust is cashing out some value while simultaneously creating a pathway for broader monetization.

Tyler Durden Fri, 05/08/2026 - 12:50