Apple explores chip acquisitions to bolster AI server capabilities

Apple is officially shopping. The iPhone maker is quietly exploring acquisitions of semiconductor startups to supercharge its artificial intelligence server capabilities, moving aggressively to close the gap in the high-stakes AI arms race.

According to a report from The Information, Apple has been in active talks with investment bankers and semiconductor startups over the past few months to gauge potential buyouts. The driving force behind this push? A pressing need for more horsepower.

Currently, Apple relies on its in-house M2 Ultra chips to power some AI data center tasks. However, the company has hit a performance ceiling with its internal servers. For heavy-lifting workloads—such as running a version of Google’s Gemini model to support the next-generation Siri—Apple has been forced to outsource to Google Cloud’s Nvidia-powered infrastructure.

Making matters more urgent, Apple’s next-generation AI server chip (code-named Baltra) was slated to debut this year but has reportedly been delayed, according to sources cited by the publication.

Historically, Apple has shied away from massive buyouts, preferring to pick up smaller startups in the hundreds of millions. But the rulebook is changing. Apple has already proven it is ready to open its wallet. In January, the company dropped nearly $2 billion on Q.ai, an Israeli startup pioneering technology that interprets speech through facial micro-movements. The blockbuster deal became Apple’s second-largest acquisition in history, trailing only its $3 billion buyout of Beats Electronics in 2014.

Apple’s in-house silicon empire was born from an acquisition—the $278 million purchase of PA Semi in 2008, which laid the foundation for the modern iPhone processor. Nearly two decades later, Apple appears ready to replicate that playbook on a much larger scale.

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