Apple’s rumored search for additional supply partners outside of Samsung may come to an end soon. Intel, the PC chipset giant whose core business has come under threat from the burgeoning demand for portable mobile devices, may be planning to open up its once exclusive fabrication plants to third-party mobile players. The semiconductor giant has already signed on Altera as its first sizable customer for the contract manufacturing business, and is reportedly in talks with “a potential large, unidentified mobile customer” – quite possibly Apple.