Apple Inc. has announced a groundbreaking partnership with Broadcom to develop high-performance data center chips, signalling a major strategic push into artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and cloud services. This collaboration, internally codenamed “Baltra,” is expected to yield Apple’s first AI-specific server processors, with mass production targeted for 2026.
The Baltra project represents Apple’s most ambitious move yet to reduce its reliance on third-party suppliers-especially Nvidia, which dominates the AI chip market with its powerful yet costly GPUs. By designing its own custom server chips, Apple aims to optimise AI processing for its devices and services, ensuring greater efficiency, security, and control over its expanding AI ecosystem.
These new chips will be manufactured using TSMC’s advanced N3P process, the same cutting-edge technology leveraged by industry leaders in AI hardware. The Baltra processors are expected to feature Broadcom-designed AI accelerators, including specialised processing units such as tensor cores and high-bandwidth memory stacks.
This architecture is tailored to accelerate AI model training and inference, addressing Apple’s growing needs for powerful, energy-efficient computation in both on-device and cloud-based AI services.
Apple’s move mirrors a broader industry trend, as major tech companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta have all invested in proprietary AI chips to support their own platforms. The demand for custom AI hardware is soaring, with the market for such chips projected to reach $45 billion by 2028. Broadcom, already a key supplier for Apple’s 5G components, stands to benefit significantly from this generative AI boom, further cementing its position as a leader in the semiconductor sector.
The partnership also underscores Apple’s long-term commitment to innovation in silicon design. Having successfully transitioned its Mac lineup to in-house M-series processors, Apple is now leveraging its expertise to build data center solutions capable of powering advanced AI features across its ecosystem.
While the Baltra chips are initially intended for Apple’s internal use, their development marks a pivotal step in the company’s quest to deliver seamless, AI-driven experiences to users worldwide.
As the AI landscape evolves, Apple’s collaboration with Broadcom is poised to reshape the competitive dynamics of both the semiconductor and cloud computing industries, reinforcing Apple’s status as a technology innovator and Broadcom’s as a critical partner in the next era of AI infrastructure.
