Apple working with Broadcom to develop first AI server chip: report

According to a report, Apple is developing a new server chip designed to enable support for features powered by artificial intelligence (AI) in partnership with semiconductor maker Broadcom. The company previously announced that it would offload processing for some of its Apple Intelligence features to the cloud, but it has not yet used its own processors designed for AI applications. Apple has also introduced support for additional Apple Intelligence features on iOS, iPadOS, and Mac computers, including ChatGPT integration with Siri.

Apple reportedly developing ‘Baltra’ server chip for AI processing

Citing three people familiar with the company’s plans, The Information reports that Apple is working on a server chip for AI applications. The iPhone maker already produces its own processors for its devices, which provide some on-device AI features, and the new in-house chip could be used to perform AI processing on Apple’s servers. .

According to the publication, Apple’s new server chip for AI processing is codenamed Baltra, and the companies are said to be working on networking technology used by the processor to perform user-requested AI tasks on the cloud. Will be done for.

The company’s latest iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 and macOS 15.2 updates — released on Wednesday — introduced new on-device Apple Intelligence features like Genmoji and Image Playground, as well as ChatGPT integration that requires access to the Internet.

The report states that the chip design is likely to be completed within a year, but it is currently unclear whether it will be used to power the company’s existing AI features through Apple’s Personal Cloud Compute (PCC) cloud-based AI processing system. Will this be done to provide power or not? earlier this year.

With PCC, the company says it can offer support for Apple Intelligence features that rely on much larger server-based models – these currently run on Apple Silicon chips – to perform AI tasks that Are too complex for on-device processing. Earlier this year, Apple said it would not store user data on PCC servers except to handle requests and that users would be able to verify the company’s privacy claims.