Apple joins consortium to develop next-gen AI data center technology

SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple has joined the Ultra Accelerator Link Consortium creating next-gen technology to link together chips in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, the consortium announced on Tuesday.

The consortium is developing a standard called UALink, which connects the AI accelerator chips found within a growing number of server farms. As of Tuesday, Apple is a member of the consortium's board, along with Alibaba and semiconductor company Synopsys. Since incorporating at the end of October 2024, the organization has grown to more than 65 member companies.

In a statement, Apple director of platform architecture Becky Loop said that UALink "shows great promise" in addressing connectivity challenges and creating new opportunities for expanding AI capabilities and demands.

"Apple has a long history of pioneering and collaborating on innovations that drive our industry forward," Loop noted, "and we're excited to join the UALink board of directors."

UALink aims to connect chips ranging from GPUs to custom-designed solutions to speed up the training, fine-tuning, and running of AI models. Based on open standards including AMD's Infinity Fabric, the first UALink products are expected to launch in the next couple of years, according to a report by TechCrunch.

Intel, AMD, Google, AWS, Microsoft, and Meta are among the UALink consortium's members.

Apple's participation in UALink comes as the company increases its investments in infrastructure to support Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI product features. According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple is reportedly developing a new server chip to improve the efficiency of its AI data centers.