Apple Seeks Chipmaker Acquisition to Bolster AI Server Capabilities

Apple faces serious server-performance challenges as the generative AI market expands rapidly. Its current M2 Ultra chips have encountered technical bottlenecks when running large AI models, while plans for new chips have been delayed, leaving the company in urgent need of more powerful hardware. Apple has decided to accelerate development of its own AI server chips by acquiring a chip startup, seeking to reduce its reliance on Nvidia and Google chips and services.

Apple acquired AI startup Q.ai for about $2 billion in January 2026. The company has also tried running Google’s Gemini models on its servers this year to support a planned Siri upgrade. Reports that Apple is now seeking to acquire another chip company indicate that it is stepping up efforts to overcome bottlenecks in its internally developed hardware.