Apple is reportedly working with Broadcom on its first AI server chip

According to a report, Apple is working with semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom to develop a new server chip designed to enable support for features powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The company previously announced it would move processing for some of its Apple Intelligence features to the cloud, but it has yet to adopt a proprietary processor tailored for AI applications. Apple has also rolled out support for additional Apple Intelligence features on iOS, iPadOS and Mac computers, including ChatGPT integration with Siri.

Apple is reportedly developing ‘Baltra’ server chip for AI processing

The Information quotes three people familiar with the company’s plans and 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 a number of AI features on the device, and the new internal chip could be used to run AI processing on Apple’s servers.

Apple’s new server chip for AI processing is codenamed Baltra, according to the publication, and the companies are said to be working on the networking technology used by the processor, which will be used to perform AI tasks performed by a user in the cloud requested.

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

The report states that the chip design will likely be completed within a year, but it is currently unclear whether it will be used to power the company’s existing AI functions through its announced Private Cloud Compute (PCC) cloud-based AI processing system Apple. earlier this year.

With PCC, the company says it can support Apple Intelligence features that rely on much larger server-based models (currently running on Apple Silicon chips) to perform AI tasks that are too complex for on-device processing. Earlier this year, Apple declared that it would not store user data on PCC servers except to fulfill a request and that users would be able to verify the company’s privacy claims.