According to reports, Apple is collaborating with chip giant Broadcom to develop a custom server processor specifically designed to support AI services and features in its operating system. This project is codenamed "Baltra" and is expected to enter production in 2026.
Currently, there are relatively few details available about this project. At this year's developer conference, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi, stated that Apple's smart technology would run simultaneously on local devices and private cloud servers, which will be powered by Apple's own silicon chips.
Since its inception, Apple has been dedicated to designing its own chips based on the Arm architecture, so the development of custom chips specifically for AI generation is not surprising. It also makes sense for Broadcom to be involved in this project, as the two companies have already collaborated in the field of 5G components.
Broadcom is a large enterprise that not only focuses on chip design but also provides intellectual property licensing in the high-speed networking sector. For instance, at the recent Hot Chips conference, Broadcom showcased an optical interconnect chip that can work with accelerators like GPUs to support larger-scale computing clusters.
Additionally, Broadcom demonstrated its 3.5D packaging technology, aimed at helping chip manufacturers push the limits of silicon, similar to Intel's Ponte Vecchio GPU Max product. AMD has also employed similar technology to create the MI300X accelerator, which combines eight computing chips and four I/O chips for memory management and inter-chip communication.
Broadcom's 3.5D extreme dimension system-in-package technology (3.5D XDSiP) provides customers with a blueprint for building multi-chip processors. Similar to AMD's MI300X, Broadcom's design stacks computing chips on logic chips and allocates other I/O functions to separate chips. Broadcom claims that its design utilizes a face-to-face approach, enabling higher inter-chip connection speeds and shorter signal routing.
While Broadcom's plans coincide with Apple's Baltra project timeline, it is currently unclear whether there is any connection between the two. However, some of Apple's chip designs, such as the M2 Ultra, have already adopted a multi-chip architecture, suggesting there may be some overlap.
Before the Baltra project officially debuts, more information about it will remain a mystery. Apple is typically low-key before launching new products, while Broadcom is generally willing to discuss its chip technology but keeps specific customer information highly confidential.
Key Points:
🌟 Apple is collaborating with Broadcom to develop an AI processor, codenamed "Baltra."
🖥️ The processor is expected to begin production in 2026 to support Apple's AI services.
🔍 Project details have not yet been disclosed, as Apple tends to keep new products shrouded in mystery.
