Is Apple Breaking Up with Nvidia Shocking Rumors of Collaboration with Google on New AI System

Apple’s technical paper revealed that its two artificial intelligence models, Apple Intelligence, were pre-trained on Google’s cloud chips. One of these chips is called TPU (Tensor Processing Units), which was designed by Google.

Google’s TPU tensor processing unit was introduced in 2015 and publicly released in 2017. Initially created for internal workloads, it now has a wider range of applications. Apple’s use of Google’s chips confirms that top technology companies in the field of AI training models are looking for alternatives to Nvidia GPUs.

Nvidia’s expensive graphics processing units (GPUs) dominate the high-end AI training chip market and have experienced high demand in recent years, leading to supply shortages. OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic all use Nvidia GPUs in their models, and other tech companies including Google, Meta, Oracle, and Tesla also compete for Nvidia chips to build their AI systems and products.

Reuters pointed out that while Apple did not explicitly state that it did not use any Nvidia chips, the company was not mentioned in its description. Apple’s 47-page technical paper does not mention Google or Nvidia directly, but it does state that its Apple FileMaker models (AFM) and AFM servers were trained on Google’s cloud TPU cluster. This means that Apple rented servers from a cloud provider to perform computations. Apple stated in the paper that this system allows them to efficiently scale the training of AFM models, including AFM on devices, AFM servers, and larger models.

Apple’s decision to rely on Google’s chips instead of Nvidia’s, the industry leader in graphics chips, is noteworthy. Nvidia holds about 80% of the market share and produces the most popular AI graphics processors. Chips produced by Google, Amazon, and other cloud computing companies also require cooperation with Nvidia.

In the research report, Apple did not explicitly state that it did not use Nvidia chips, but its description of AI hardware and software did not mention Nvidia’s hardware devices.

To train their AI models, the iPhone manufacturer used two forms of Google Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), which are organized into large chip clusters. Apple used 2,048 TPUv5p chips to build AI models that can run on iPhones and other devices. They also deployed 8,192 TPUv4 processors for their server AI models.

Nvidia focuses on GPUs widely used for AI tasks. Google and Nvidia have different sales approaches, with Google selling access to TPUs through the Google Cloud Platform. Customers interested in purchasing access to TPUs need to build software through Google’s cloud platform system to use these chips.

Apple has introduced partial Apple Intelligence features to its beta users. Reuters reported on the use of TPU chips in June, but Apple’s recently published research disclosed the extent of its dependence on Google’s hardware.

Apple engineers stated in the report that using Google’s chips allows them to create larger and more complex models than the two models studied in the report. Apple introduced a series of new AI features at its developers’ conference in June, including integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology into software.

Investors are concerned about the future application development of Apple Intelligence on iPhones. Apple introduced Apple Intelligence at its 2024 developers’ conference, integrating it into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia as a personal intelligence system.

Apple Intelligence consists of multiple generative models for users’ everyday tasks and can dynamically learn to deliver their current tasks. Built-in base models fine-tune users’ actions, such as writing and polishing text, prioritizing and summarizing notifications, creating interesting images for conversations with family and friends, and simplifying built-in app functions to reduce the frequency of switching between apps.

Apple’s recent new iPhones and Siri features have been underwhelming. The newly introduced Apple Intelligence is only available for iOS 18 and requires at least an iPhone 15 Pro or higher, MacOS 15, and iPadOS 17 to use.

Experts note that the delay in releasing Apple Intelligence until October at the end of the year, as seen in Bloomberg’s report, means that Apple will miss the timing of the upcoming iPhone firmware update in September. Developers can only start testing the new AI features from this week at the earliest. Investors and Apple fans are hopeful that the new Apple iPhone 16, expected at the end of the year, will have the enhanced AI capabilities of Apple Intelligence, but they may be disappointed.

Apple’s slow pace in hardware and software development and its inseparable relationship with Google are noteworthy. Will Apple Intelligence be a shining product that replaces Siri, or just a variation of Siri 2.0? The iPhone, once a groundbreaking product introduced by Steve Jobs, is gradually losing its position as the only choice for smartphone users in the rapidly developing field of AI. Apple’s innovative AI features will undoubtedly affect its position and stock price in the technology industry.