Apple is working on developing its artificial intelligence (AI) chipsets to run software in data centers. If true, this would mark a major change of plans for the Cupertino-based tech giant, as previous reports highlighted that the company was only focusing on on-device AI features for its devices. However, the development of AI chips indicates that Apple is also considering server-based AI functions. Some of these features could be unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024, which is scheduled to be held on June 10.
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Apple has been working on its server project, which is known internally as Project ACDC for several years. Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the report highlighted that the tech giant now plans to introduce specific chipsets for these data centers to be able to run AI computing.
The tech giant is working with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to design and produce these AI chips, however, it is unclear whether the manufactured processors showed a definitive result. These chips are said to be used only for inference purposes (running the AI model) and not for training large language models (LLMs). In particular, TSMC is a major chip manufacturing partner for Apple and produces most of the silicon used in the company's devices.
If the claims are true, this could point to a major shift in Apple's AI strategy. Many previous reports claimed that the company was only interested in bringing AI features to the device that could be fully processed locally. Evidence of this plan was seen when the new iPad Pro 2024 was unveiled with the M4 chip, which includes a new Neural Processing Unit (NPU) to run AI tasks.
However, until now no smartphone manufacturer has been able to offer a set of AI functions that work entirely locally due to the high hardware requirement, and instead divide the processes between the server and the device Notable examples are Samsung's Galaxy AI and Oppo's AI features. It seems that Apple has also realized this problem and now plans to combine AI functions on both the device and the server for its ecosystem.
This likely means that functions that are not privacy intrusive could be executed from servers, while functions that access user data could still be processed locally. This combination could also allow Apple to extend these features to its older devices that lack the hardware to support on-device AI features. While these are just speculations, we'll know for sure if Apple unveils its AI features at WWDC 2024.
