Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter.
The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said.
Photo: AFP
While this initiative has been in progress for several years, the exact timeline or potential release date remains uncertain, the report said.
The Cupertino, California-based company has been playing catch-up with its peers in generative AI, the technology underpinning chatbots and other popular new tools. The company is preparing to unveil a new strategy for AI at its Worldwide Developers Conference next month.
“We continue to feel very bullish about our opportunity in generative AI and we’re making significant investments,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with Reuters last week.
Apple’s server chip would primarily focus on running AI models, a process known as inference, rather than training AI models.
The company has been working closely with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) to design and initiate production of the chips, although it is uncertain if the collaboration has delivered definitive results, the Journal reported.
Apple’s approach is expected to focus on new proactive features that can assist users in their daily lives. The company also has held talks with potential partners like Alphabet Inc’s Google and OpenAI to supply generative AI services.
If Apple goes ahead with its own server processor, it would follow several of the largest tech companies in doing so. Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft Corp and Meta Platforms Inc all operate data centers that run on in-house designed semiconductors to some extent. Such efforts have eroded the traditional dominance of Intel Corp’s components.
Meanwhile, Apple planned to hold a virtual event yesterday in which it is expected to show new iPad models, some of which could come with a new chip aimed at speeding up AI tasks carried out on the devices.
Creative Strategies Inc analyst Carolina Milanesi said upgraded iPads could be a way for Apple to get new chips onto the market ahead of its developer conference next month, where it might reveal more about how it plans to address AI.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘AL SILICON ISLAND’: Tainan is the birthplace of AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su, while TSMC is building a new fab to produce 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) has chosen to locate its new research-and-development (R&D) centers in Tainan and Kaohsiung, as part of the US chip company's NT$8.64 billion (US$270.5 million) project to advance its development of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and silicon photonics, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. AMD’s latest investment would help to develop Taiwan into an “AI silicon island,” the ministry said in a statement after Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) met AMD representatives led by David Wang (王啟尚), senior vice president of AMD’s graphics processing unit technologies and engineering, in Taipei yesterday. AMD
Restaurant chain Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) today announced it is to close 14 stores in northern China, completely exiting the market by the end of October. Beijing Hengtaifeng Catering Co (北京恆泰豐餐飲), which operates Din Tai Fung restaurants in northern China, said its 20-year operating license expires this year. As the board was unable to reach a consensus on continuing operations, its 14 restaurants in the region are to close by Oct. 31, it said. The company apologized for the inconvenience and disappointment the news would cause among its customers, and said it would provide compensation for its workers. “We continue to be optimistic about
EXPANDING: The European Commission has contributed 5 billion euros in state aid to TSMC’s 12-inch wafer fab in Dresden, Germany, which broke ground on Tuesday Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Saturday said that it has received a total of NT$62.5 billion (US$1.95 billion) in subsidies from China and Japan since 2022. In the first half of this year, TSMC received NT$7.96 billion in subsidies from China and Japan after receiving about NT$47.55 billion last year and obtaining NT$7.05 billion in 2022, financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed. The company, which makes about 90 percent of the world’s high-end semiconductors, said the subsidies were used to finance its investments in Kumamoto, Japan, and Nanjing, China. TSMC owns a 12-inch wafer fab in
One of the hottest viral trends, where people sprint, leap and crash around Cambodia’s historic Angkor Wat and other temple ruins in the Southeast Asian nation in a live recreation of a popular video game, has conservationists aghast, with several saying the race for views denigrates the almost 900-year-old sculptures and risks irreparable damage. Short videos of visitors running down narrow stone pathways and vaulting over passageways — often overlayed with sounds from the popular Temple Run video game — have been making the rounds on TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and other platforms. Some videos have received more than 2 million views