Apple AI servers unused in warehouses due to low Apple Intelligence usage

Source: Hacker News

Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Apple was looking to host the much‑delayed new Siri models on Google servers, rather than Apple’s Private Cloud Compute. The Information is reporting a similar story, saying that Google has been tasked with running Siri servers inside its data centers while adhering to Apple’s privacy standards.

The Information details how Private Cloud Compute is not up to task. In addition to being underpowered, it is reportedly underutilized, with Apple using only about 10 % of its capacity on average, leaving some already‑manufactured Apple servers sitting dormant on warehouse shelves.

Apple’s cloud infrastructure is described as very fragmented. Technologies from different teams run independently rather than from a single centralized pool that any department can draw from. This leads to inefficiencies where parts of the stack sit idle while other parts could use the available server capacity if they could access it. The finance team has been frustrated by the costs of this duplicate infrastructure but is unwilling to invest billions in overhauling the stack. Several attempts to unify everything have stalled over the past decade.

For Private Cloud Compute specifically, the system is underpowered and perhaps more trouble than it’s worth. Updating the software is trickier and takes time, and the chips (believed to be modified M2 Ultra processors) are not powerful enough to run the latest frontier models like Gemini, which the new Siri will be based on.

Because the initial crop of Apple Intelligence features hasn’t been used as much as Apple expected, the Private Cloud Compute build‑out is seen in a negative light. While Apple expects much higher demand for the new Siri chatbot features when they finally launch, the current Private Cloud Compute stack does not seem up to the task.

Consequently, Apple is in advanced talks with Google to run the new Siri inside Google’s data centers, a company that already has extensive experience with large‑scale LLM server build‑outs thanks to Gemini. Apple already relies on Google’s cloud for some iCloud features, such as cloud storage.

The ever‑changing AI landscape may have forced Apple leadership to reconsider its cloud infrastructure strategy and could lead to heavier in‑house investment in the future, though implementing those changes will be a longer‑term trajectory.

You can read the full story over at The Information.