Apple Has Relied On Google’s Custom Chips For AI Training: What We Know

Apple has disclosed that the AI models that power Apple Intelligence were trained on Google’s custom chips. The hardware manufacturer revealed that two important components of its AI system were pre-trained on Google-designed processors in a research paper that was released this week. Considering how reliant big tech companies have been on AI chipmaker Nvidia, the decision is unusual.

Google’s in-house tensor processing units (TPUs), which are arranged in big clusters of processors, were used in two distinct iterations, according to the company. Apple used 2,048 TPUv5p chips to train its AI model for iPhones and other devices, and 8,192 TPUv4 processors to train its server AI model.

While TPUs are not designed by Nvidia, the company concentrates its efforts on GPUs, or graphics processing units, which are extensively utilised in artificial intelligence research.

In addition, the iPhone maker unveiled a peek of its long-awaited Apple Intelligence system. Currently, Nvidia controls over 80 percent of the AI chip industry, because of its pricey graphics processing units (GPUs), which have been in great demand since the AI boom.

In light of the high expense of building the AI infrastructure needed to train large AI models, several big companies, including Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon, have recently turned to creating their own AI chips.

Meanwhile, Google’s TPUs may be accessed via the Google Cloud Platform, which means that if users wish to use the chips, they must also build software on Google Cloud. Apart from the ones described, the research paper stated that it would be possible to develop much larger and more complicated models with Google chips.

This is the second technical document on Apple’s artificial intelligence technology, following a more generic version published in June.

During its WWDC conference in June 2024, Apple revealed a plethora of new AI tools and capabilities, one of which was the integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its software. Within this week, a few Apple Intelligence capabilities will be made available to beta testers.

Apple is slated to release quarterly earnings later this week which will tell us how Tim Cook and Co. plan to go about AI and other products in the near future.