Apple has been exploring acquisitions of companies that design AI chips, as it tries to reduce its reliance on Nvidia for demanding AI workloads. The Information first reported the effort on July 15, 2026, and MacRumors, Stocktwits and Business Today all cite that report. Apple has reportedly held talks with bankers in recent months and approached semiconductor startups about whether they would consider a sale. The company has not named any targets, and the reports give no deal size.
Why Apple is looking outside.
The reports point to Apple's own server silicon as the core problem. Stocktwits says Apple uses its in-house M2 Ultra chips for some AI workloads, but those chips have struggled with larger models. Business Today reports that the M2 Ultra is not powerful enough for demanding AI tasks when compared with specialised accelerators. Apple reportedly could not run Google's Gemini models efficiently on its own servers while building the revamped Siri, so it relied on Nvidia GPUs hosted in Google Cloud for heavy jobs.
The roadmap and the delay.
Bloomberg, as cited by Business Today, describes an AI server chip based on the M5 Ultra and a future M7 Ultra that could support up to 1.5 terabytes of memory. A server variant of the M7 Ultra is not expected until 2029, Business Today reports. A separate server chip, codenamed Baltra, was expected to help this year, but Stocktwits reports that it has been delayed. That timeline is the reason outside chip companies look attractive: they could fill a gap that Apple's own roadmap cannot close soon.
Money and recent deals.
Apple has already made a large AI purchase. Business Today says it acquired the Israeli AI startup Q.ai for nearly $2 billion earlier in 2026, and that it is in talks with PrismML, with no deal size given. Stocktwits notes that Apple's CFO, Kevan Parekh, said on the most recent earnings call that the company no longer treats staying net cash neutral as a formal target. MacRumors reads that change as a way to free up capital for larger acquisitions. Stocktwits also cites a separate Apple agreement with Broadcom for AI server chips that is expected to exceed $30 billion.
What Apple has said.
None of the reports includes a statement from Apple about the acquisition effort. The company has not confirmed a deal, and the coverage does not suggest any single transaction is close to signing. The Broadcom agreement does show that Apple is willing to commit large sums to outside AI silicon, though that is a supply contract rather than the kind of purchase the reports describe.
What is still unknown.
The reports do not say which startups are on the list, how large a deal would be, or whether Apple would keep the companies' products or fold their designs into its own server line. The timing is also unclear, because The Information reported the talks in July and no follow-up has been published in the coverage reviewed here. Readers who follow Apple's product events from other time zones can convert start times with the free time zone converter at /en/time-zone-converter.