Apple eyes using AI to design its chips, technology executive says

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Apple is interested in tapping generative artificial intelligence to help speed up the design of the custom chips at the heart of its devices, its top hardware technology executive said in private remarks last month.

Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, made the remarks in a speech in Belgium, where he was receiving an award from Imec, an independent semiconductor research and development group that works closely with most of the world's biggest chipmakers.

In the speech, a recording of which was reviewed by Reuters, Srouji outlined Apple's development of custom chips from the first A4 chip in an iPhone in 2010 to the most recent chips that power Mac desktop computers and the Vision Pro headset. 

He said one of the key lessons Apple learned was that it needed to use the most cutting-edge tools available to design its chips, including the latest chip design software from electronic design automation (EDA) firms.

The two biggest players in that industry - Cadence Design Systems and Synopsys - have been racing to add artificial intelligence to their offerings. 

"EDA companies are super critical in supporting our chip design complexities," Srouji said in his remarks. "Generative AI techniques have a high potential in getting more design work in less time, and it can be a huge productivity boost."

Srouji said another key lesson Apple learned in designing its own chips was to make big bets and not look back. 

When Apple transitioned its Mac computers - its oldest active product line - from Intel's chips to its own chips in 2020, it made no contingency plans in case the switch did not work.

"Moving the Mac to Apple Silicon was a huge bet for us. There was no backup plan, no split-the lineup plan, so we went all in, including a monumental software effort," Srouji said.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Jamie Freed)