Apple May Return to the Server Market with Nvidia's Help — The Information

Apple is developing a server for enterprise customers based on its own chips and is in talks with Nvidia about using its networking technologies, sources told The Information. The device may be intended for governments, AI developers, and other companies, and is not expected to hit the market until at least 2029.

Work on the new project began about a year ago and received support from John Ternus, who at the time headed Apple's hardware division and now leads the entire company, according to Bloomberg, citing The Information.

According to the publication, Apple's server will use the company's own processors and will be available in two configurations:

The base model will feature two of the upcoming M8 Ultra chips, while the higher-performance model will be equipped with four.

For this project, Apple is exploring Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion technology, which enables the integration of third-party AI chips into high-performance server systems. Neither company responded to requests for comment, Reuters reports, noting that it was unable to independently confirm The Information’s report.

The introduction of its own server hardware would mark a step by Apple into the AI infrastructure market. The company is already actively developing its own processors for devices, but this new project involves using them in equipment designed for enterprise AI workloads, according to Reuters.

Specifically, this refers to the growing inference market—the processing of queries and execution of tasks using pre-trained AI models. Enterprise workloads are gradually shifting toward the use of neural networks, which is increasing demand for the corresponding computing infrastructure, Reuters notes.

If Apple's plan comes to fruition, the tech giant will return to manufacturing specialized server hardware for the first time in nearly two decades. The company stopped producing Xserve servers in 2011, after which it shifted its focus to Mac computers and consumer devices, Reuters notes.

Apple continues to boost the performance of its chips for AI tasks. In March, the company updated its Mac lineup, introducing the M5 Pro and M5 Max processors, and in August introduced the 2-nanometer M6 for the Mac mini, which delivers up to a fourfold increase in AI performance. Its more powerful versions are aimed, among other things, at developers and professional AI workloads, Reuters notes.

The device could also mark a new chapter in the relationship between Apple and Nvidia, which has been strained for nearly two decades—following the 2008 scandal known as “Bumpgate.” A technical defect in the so-called “bumps”—microscopic contact points between the Nvidia graphics chip and the substrate—led to widespread chip failures in Mac computers. As a result, Apple abandoned them in favor of products from rival AMD.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor