Apple is developing processors for data centers that will serve requests from Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence services, Bloomberg has learned. Like many other technology companies, Broadcom is helping it in this. Processors for consumer devices are being developed at least three generations ahead.
Apple’s data center processor is codenamed Baltra, and the project is expected to be completed by 2027. All of Broadcom’s AI processors have traditionally used systolic arrays of compute components, typically tensor or matrix units, and HBM memory stacks. Apple is reportedly considering various configurations of its server processor, including models that have “two, four, or eight times as many CPU and GPU cores as today’s M3 Ultra,” the publication writes.
Apple’s M3 Ultra processor is a formidable solution. It has 24 performance cores and eight efficiency cores. But data center processors don’t typically use hybrid configurations, so it’s anyone’s guess whether that means eight times the CPU cores in total (256 total) or eight times the performance cores (192 cores). Four M3 Ultra graphics clusters would likely deliver performance comparable to or better than an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090.
In practice, AI applications use tensor or matrix compute units (TPUs) for training and inference rather than CPUs and GPUs. For example, Apple’s NPU (AI accelerator) uses matrix multiplication logic optimized for local processing of AI algorithms. If a company is developing an AI accelerator for inference, i.e. running AI algorithms, it will need to scale the NPU rather than the number of CPU cores. CPUs in data centers will be needed to manage data flows and transfer them to accelerators, so in Project Baltra, a company may actually be developing CPU and AI accelerator units.
The roadmap also includes several processors for consumer computers. By the end of 2025, predictably, the company will release the Apple M5 system-on-a-chip for the iPad Pro and MacBook. M6 and M7, codenamed Komodo and Borneo, respectively, are being developed; they will appear in tablets and PCs. There is a powerful Sotra chip that is currently under development, but its purpose is still unclear. Earlier, it became known that Apple is developing processors for wearable devices, including augmented reality glasses.