Apple’s latest technical document reveals that the two main AI models behind Apple Intelligence are trained using Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) instead of NVIDIA GPUs. According to a report from Commercial Times, this suggests that the demand for NVIDIA chips has outstripped supply, prompting some tech giants to seek alternatives.

Apple first introduced an AI technical document in June, briefly stating that its AI models were trained using TPUs. The latest technical document, which spans 47 pages, provides a detailed explanation of how Apple’s foundational models (AFM) and AFM servers are trained in Cloud TPU Clusters. This indicates that Apple rents cloud servers from cloud service providers to train its AI models.

In the document, Apple stated: “This system allows us to train the AFM models efficiently and scalably, including AFM-on-device, AFM-server, and larger models.”

Apple further mentioned that the on-device AFM models for iPhones and iPads are trained using a total of 2,048 TPUv5p chips, which are currently the most advanced TPU chips on the market. The AFM servers are trained using a total of 8,192 TPUv4 chips.

Google initially launched TPUs in 2015 for internal training use only and started offering TPU rental services to external clients in 2017. These TPUs are currently the most mature custom chips used for AI training. According to Google’s official website, the rental cost of their most advanced TPUs is approximately USD 2 per hour based on a three-year contract.

Though NVIDIA’s GPUs are currently dominating the high-end AI chip market, the enormous number of chips required for AI model training has led to a severe shortage. This is because major tech companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Oracle, and Tesla all use NVIDIA chips to develop their AI technologies.

Since the rise of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, which spurred the generative AI market, Silicon Valley tech giants have been racing to invest in AI research and development. In contrast, Apple has lagged behind its competitors and now has to intensify its efforts to bolster Apple Intelligence. On July 29th, Apple released a preview version of Apple Intelligence for certain devices.

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(Photo credit: NVIDIA)