Apple plans to use M2 Ultra chips in the cloud for artificial intelligence

Apple plans to begin its foray into generative AI by offloading complex queries to M2 Ultra chips running in data centers before moving to more advanced M4 chips.

Bloomberg Reports Apple plans to place the M2 Ultra on cloud servers to run more complex AI queries, while simple tasks are processed on the devices. The Wall Street Journal I previously reported that Apple wanted to create custom chips to bring into data centers to ensure security and privacy in a project that the publication says is called Project ACDC, or Apple Chips in Data Center. But the company now believes that its current processors already have sufficient security and privacy components.

The chips will be deployed in Apple’s data centers and eventually to servers operated by third parties. Apple operates its own servers across the United States and is developing… New center in Waukee, IowaWhich was first announced in 2017.

While Apple has not moved as quickly into generative AI as competitors like Google, Meta, and Microsoft, the company has been researching the technology. In December, Apple’s machine learning research team released MLX, a machine learning framework that can efficiently run AI models on an Apple processor. The company also released other research on AI models that hint at what AI could look like on its devices and how existing products, like Siri, could get an upgrade.

Apple focused heavily on AI performance in its announcement of its new M4 chip, saying its new Neural Engine is an “extremely powerful AI chip.”