SAN FRANCISCO – A stormy, decade-long relationship between Apple Computer and IBM is over, according to published reports. Apple CEO Steven Jobs is expected to announce today at the company’s software developers conference in San Francisco that Apple will discontinue using microprocessor chips made by IBM in favor of Intel chips, according to CNET Networks’ News.com and the Wall Street Journal.

Officials from Apple, Intel, and International Business Machines could not be reached yesterday to confirm the report.

For years, rumors of Apple’s wish to jump to Intel have been circulating. But two weeks ago, analysts were skeptical when The Wall Street Journal reported that Intel and Apple were in negotiations.

One reason for the skepticism is that the move represents a significant risk for Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple.

Switching to Intel’s x86 chips would force Apple’s programmers to rewrite its software in order to adapt to the new processor.

“I don’t know that Apple’s market share can survive another architecture shift,” Insight 64 analyst Nathan Brookwood told News.com. “Every time they do this, they lose more customers.”

News.com reported that Apple would begin the transition to Intel with its lower-end computers, such as the Mac Mini, in mid-2006 and higher-end models a year later.

Apple’s break with IBM stemmed from Mr. Jobs’s wish that IBM make a larger variety of the PowerPC processors used in Macintosh systems. IBM balked because of concerns over the profitability of a low-volume business, News.com reported.