Report: Apple considers using AI to design its chips

Apple is looking at using generative AI to help speed up the design of its custom chips, according to a report by Reuters.  

At a recent speech, Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, said one of the key lessons the tech giant learned was that it needed to use the most cutting-edge tools available to design its chips, such as the latest chip design software from electronic design automation (EDA) companies, the report said.

“EDA companies are super critical in supporting our chip design complexities,” Srouji was quoted as saying in the Reuters report. “Generative AI techniques have a high potential in getting more design work in less time, and it can be a huge productivity boost.”

Another important lesson Apple learned in designing its own chips was to make big bets and not look back, he added.

“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.

Companies like EDA software supplier Synopsys are already trying to make AI play a bigger role in chip design. Synopsys believes that using generative AI could help create new and unconventional ways to design chips, according to a report by Apple Insider.  

Meanwhile, Chinese researchers claim they have developed an AI-designed processor by using an LLM to create a CPU architecture.