Apple Is Developing AI Chips for Data Centers, Seeking Edge in Arms Race


这个服务器项目内部代号为ACDC，将利用苹果在自研芯片方面的实力开发服务器芯片。


苹果公司预计将在6月份的开发者大会上发布多款新的AI产品。

苹果公司(Apple)已在自主开发可以在数据中心服务器中运行AI软件的芯片，有望为该公司在AI竞赛中带来一项关键优势。 6park.com
Apple has been working on its own chip designed to run artificial intelligence software in data center servers, a move that has the potential to give the company an advantage in the AI arms race. 6park.com
  
过去十年间，苹果公司积极推进iPhone、iPad、Apple Watch和Mac电脑的自研芯片设计。知情人士透露，这个服务器项目内部代号为ACDC，即苹果数据中心芯片(Apple Chips in Data Center)，将利用苹果在自研芯片方面的实力开发服务器芯片。 6park.com
Over the past decade, Apple has emerged as a leading player designing chips for iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch and Mac computers. The server project, which is internally code-named Project ACDC—for Apple Chips in Data Center—will bring this talent to bear for the company’s servers, according to people familiar with the matter. 6park.com
   
ACDC项目已经进行了几年，目前还不清楚这款新的芯片将于何时亮相以及是否会亮相。苹果公司此前承诺将在6月份的全球开发者大会上发布多款新的AI产品和相关消息。 6park.com
Project ACDC has been in the works for several years and it is uncertain when the new chip will be unveiled, if ever. Apple has promised many new AI products and announcements at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June. 6park.com
   
苹果公司发言人不予置评。 6park.com
An Apple spokesman declined to comment. 6park.com
   
据其中一些知情人士称，苹果公司一直在与为其生产芯片的台湾积体电路制造股份有限公司(Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., 2330.TW, 简称﹕台积电)密切合作，设计并推动此类芯片的生产，但目前尚不清楚是否取得明确成果。 6park.com
Apple has been closely working with its chip-making partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to design and initiate production of such chips, yet it remains uncertain whether they have yielded a definitive result, some of the people said.


苹果公司CEO库克试图安抚投资者，他宣称苹果公司正在投资AI技术。

一些知情人士称，对于苹果公司的服务器芯片而言，相关组件可能更偏向致力于运行AI模型（即进行所谓的推理），而不是训练AI模型，在后一个领域，芯片制造商英伟达(Nvidia)很可能继续占据主导地位。 6park.com
For Apple’s server chip, the component will likely be focused on running AI models—what’s known as inference—rather than on training AI models, where chip maker Nvidia will likely continue to dominate, according to some of the people. 6park.com
    
在OpenAI的ChatGPT横空出世后，微软和Meta等竞争对手纷纷斥资数十亿美元，围绕所谓的生成式AI技术迅速调整业务方向，苹果公司的服务器芯片可能正好赶上这波发展时机。 6park.com
An Apple server chip could come at an opportune time as rivals such as Microsoft and Meta have spent billions and moved quickly to reorient their businesses around so-called generative AI after the explosive emergence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT service. 6park.com
   
苹果公司的投资者已经对该公司在AI领域鲜有进展失去耐心。反观苹果公司的竞争对手们，已经借着一波又一波AI消息的发布，实现了股价的飙升。微软的股价涨幅最大，这要归功于微软与OpenAI在早期就建立的紧密合作关系。今年早些时候，微软超越苹果公司成为全球最有价值的公司，而且领先优势还在不断扩大。 6park.com
Apple investors have grown impatient over the company’s perceived lack of progress in AI. Tech rivals have seen their share prices jump with splashy AI announcements. Microsoft has enjoyed the biggest bump thanks to the company’s close and early partnership with OpenAI. Earlier this year, Microsoft overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company, and its lead has only grown. 6park.com
   
苹果公司首席执行官库克(Tim Cook)试图安抚投资者，他宣称苹果公司正在投资AI技术，并将很快发布有关AI的重大消息。 6park.com
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has sought to assure investors that it is investing in the technology and that it will have major AI announcements soon. 6park.com
   
库克在苹果公司最近发布的季度财报中表示，“我们相信AI带来的变革力量和前景，我们相信我们拥有在这个新时代脱颖而出的优势，其中包括苹果公司独一无二的硬件、软件和服务的流畅组合，以及开创性的苹果芯片。” 6park.com
“We believe in the transformative power and promise of AI, and we believe we have advantages that will differentiate us in this new era, including Apple’s unique combination of seamless hardware, software and services integration,” Cook said on a conference call for the company’s recent quarterly earnings.


在3月的一次科技会议上展示的英伟达芯片。英伟达在AI服务器芯片的市场份额估计超过80%。

为ChatGPT提供动力的大语言模型等生成式AI系统通常使用数据中心的计算机服务器来处理大量数据。为了获得这种计算能力，大多数大型科技公司都非常依赖搭载大量英伟达)芯片的服务器。英伟达已经置身这场AI淘金热潮的中心。 6park.com
Generative AI systems, such as large language models that power ChatGPT, often crunch immense amounts of data using computer servers hosted in data centers. For that computing power, most large tech companies rely heavily on servers full of chips from Nvidia, which has found itself in the middle of an AI gold rush. 6park.com
   
大多数大型科技公司都已开发出自己的AI服务器芯片，或在探索摆脱英伟达的可能性，英伟达在此类芯片的市场份额估计超过80%。谷歌(Google)于2013年开始着手的张量处理单元(TPU)或许是最成熟的内部AI服务器芯片产品。据《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)此前报道，OpenAI也在讨论资助一个雄心勃勃的内部芯片项目。 6park.com
Most of the largest tech companies have developed their own AI server chips or are exploring the possibility, to untether themselves from Nvidia, which has a market share estimated at over 80% in such chips. Google has perhaps the most mature internal AI server chip product, with its tensor processing units, having started on the project in 2013. OpenAI is also in discussions to fund an ambitious internal chip project, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. 6park.com
   
苹果公司在芯片方面已经颇具实力，可能相较于其他科技巨头具有重大优势。该公司设计定制芯片的历史最久，也最为成功，于2010年最早开始在iPhone和iPad中使用自己的处理芯片。 6park.com
Apple’s existing chip prowess might be one avenue where the company can find a critical advantage over other tech giants in AI. Among its rivals, Apple has had the longest history and most success in designing custom silicon. The company first began incorporating its own processing chips into iPhones and iPads in 2010. 6park.com
   
2017年，苹果公司开始在移动芯片中加入以AI为核心的处理器。2020年，苹果公司开始在Mac中用自己的定制芯片取代英特尔芯片。这些行动为苹果公司提供了区别于竞争对手的产品。一位知情人士说，苹果公司目前计划用于消费产品的M系列芯片之后将推出的更高阶版本有可能能够执行某些AI功能，例如服务器中的推理。 6park.com
In 2017, Apple began incorporating AI-focused processors into its mobile chips. In 2020, it started replacing Intel chips in its Macs with its own custom silicon. These chip efforts have helped differentiate Apple’s products from its rivals’. It is possible that advanced versions of Apple’s M-series chips, which are currently planned for its consumer products, could be capable of performing certain AI functions, such as inference in servers, one source said. 6park.com
 
预计苹果公司周二将推出新款iPad，并可能配备新的M系列处理器。 6park.com
On Tuesday, Apple is expected to unveil a new iPad with potentially a new M-Series processor. 6park.com
  
虽然苹果公司已成功开发出处理芯片用于其设备，而且正寻求在服务器方面走同样的路，但在开发蜂窝无线芯片以取代移动芯片领头羊高通(Qualcomm)方面，苹果公司一直进展不顺。据《华尔街日报》去年报道，苹果公司内部蜂窝调制解调器的推出再次错过期限并被推迟。 6park.com
While Apple has succeeded in developing processing chips for its devices and is now seeking to do so with servers, the company has been struggling to develop a cellular wireless chip to replace mobile chip leader Qualcomm. The launch of an internal Apple cellular modem continues to miss deadlines and get pushed out, the Journal reported last year. 6park.com
  
苹果公司倾向于主要在iPhone或Apple Watch上使用AI，但仍需要在通过互联网访问的远程服务器上运行一些进程，届时会用到苹果公司的服务器芯片。通过自己处理更多此类任务（即使是使用数据中心里的芯片），苹果公司也能更多地控制自身在AI方面的命运。 6park.com
Apple prefers that most uses of AI happen on an iPhone or Apple Watch, but it still needs to run some processes on remote servers accessed over the internet, which is when the Apple server chip would take over. By handling more of those tasks itself, even with the chips in the data center, Apple can have more control of its AI destiny.