Since PC chips aren’t selling they way they used to Intel has had this notion of making other people’s chips to fill its huge capacity and now it’s agreed to make field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), chips used in phone network equipment, for Altera on a future 14nm TriGate transistor process.

Altera is playing the exclusive FPGA pact as a competitive advantage, positioning itself as “an extra division of Intel” and giving it the most advanced chips available.

Reuters, which calls the deal the “most significant agreement of its kind announced so far by the world’s top chipmaker,” thinks it could mean Intel will eventually make Apple’s ARM chips despite Intel trying to get traction for its own mobile chips.

Intel’s move will challenge contract manufacturing companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing although Altera will still use TSMC for less advanced products.

Cisco has also reportedly signed up with Intel for chips along with Tabula Inc, Achronix Semiconductor and Netronome Systems.