According to the latest insights from noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is preparing to enter the mass production phase for its first-ever dedicated in-house AI server chips in the second half of 2026. Internally codenamed “Baltra,” these chips are being developed in collaboration with Broadcom and represent a massive leap beyond the current practice of using modified Mac (M-series) chips for cloud tasks. This move is designed to give Apple total vertical integration, allowing the company to control the entire “stack”—from the silicon in your pocket to the processors in the data center.
The strategy behind “Baltra” is twofold: performance and privacy. By using its own specialized AI silicon, Apple can optimize its “Private Cloud Compute” (PCC) system to handle complex Siri requests and image generation with much higher efficiency than standard third-party hardware. Furthermore, this transition will eventually allow Apple to reduce its reliance on external partners like Google and OpenAI. While the chips will start production late this year, Apple plans to open its own specialized AI-native data centers in 2027 to house this new hardware, signaling that the company anticipates a massive surge in AI demand across its ecosystem in the coming years.
