Apple Reportedly Developing Its Own Custom Silicon for AI Servers

Apple is said to be developing its own AI server processor using TSMC's 3nm process, targeting mass production by the second half of 2025.

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri 1
According to a post by the Weibo user known as "Phone Chip Expert," Apple has ambitious plans to design its own artificial intelligence server processor. The user, who claims to have 25 years of experience in the integrated circuit industry, including work on Intel's Pentium processors, suggests this processor will be manufactured using TSMC's ‌3nm‌ node.

TSMC is a vital partner for Apple, manufacturing all of its custom silicon chips. The chipmaker's ‌3nm‌ technology is one of the most advanced semiconductor processes available, offering significant improvements in performance and energy efficiency over the previous 5nm and 7nm nodes.

Apple's purported move toward developing a specialist AI server processor is reflective of the company's ongoing strategy to vertically integrate its supply chain. By designing its own server chips, Apple can tailor hardware specifically to its software needs, potentially leading to more powerful and efficient technologies.

Apple could use its own AI processors to enhance the performance of its data centers and future AI tools that rely on the cloud. While Apple is rumored to be prioritizing on-device processing for many of its upcoming AI tools, it is inevitable that some operations will have to occur in the cloud. By the time the custom processor could be integrated into operational servers in late 2025, Apple's new AI strategy should be well underway.

The Weibo user has a number of accurate previous claims, including that the iPhone 7 would be water-resistant and that the standard ‌iPhone‌ 14 models would continue using the A15 Bionic chip, with the more advanced A16 chip being exclusive to the ‌iPhone‌ 14 Pro models. These predictions were later corroborated by multiple credible sources and proved correct upon the products' release.

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 18.4 With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music, New Emoji and More

Monday March 31, 2025 10:03 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, the fourth major updates to the iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 operating system updates that came out last year. iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 come two months after Apple released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iOS 19 Mock WWDC25 Feature

iOS 19 Expected to Run on These iPhones

Monday March 31, 2025 5:28 pm PDT by
iOS 19 will not be available on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, or the iPhone XS Max, according a private account on social media site X that has accurately provided information on device compatibility in the past. The iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max all have an A12 Bionic chip, so it looks like iOS 19 will discontinue support for that chip. All other iPhones that run iOS 18 are expected...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...

Top Rated Comments

enb141 Avatar
12 months ago
Nice, a server with 8/256 configuration for AI :D
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PeterKeller Avatar
12 months ago
This makes SO MUCH sense. The biggest long term cost of server farms is power and cooling. And with Apple's chip technology, they have an advantage here. Margins on these things must be excellent and a new line of Apple Servers with custom chips could be a big growth area - something that Tim Cook needs for the stock to continue to grow. Also, NVidia is the only game in town at the moment, so it's not like it's a crowded field.

This is a much better idea than a Car or even VR Goggles, IMHO. (Although they should be throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall to see what sticks)
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
guzhogi Avatar
12 months ago

Xserve AI
Just about to say how much I miss the Xserve. I know it didn't sell well, and I'm sure servers don't have that high a margin. It would be cool to have a Mac server again, though. With the size of the motherboard, I wonder if Apple could do blade servers or something?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
orbital~debris Avatar
12 months ago
Xserve AI
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jayryco Avatar
12 months ago
I asked this question about Apple developing their own server tech two months ago on these forums and few thought it makes sense for Apple when it actually makes so much sense when looking at it on a macro level and the vertical integration as well as ecosystem optimisation.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/nvidia-vs-apple-ai-wars.2419518/?post=32977724#post-32977724
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wanha Avatar
12 months ago
I smell massive GPU and RAM improvements coming to AS
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)