Apple Considers Using AI For Chip Design

JAKARTA Apple Inc. is interested in utilizing the technology of generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) to accelerate the process of designing a special chip that is at the core of its various devices. This was said by the senior executive of the hardware company from Cupetino in May 2025.

Johny Srouji, Apple's Senior Vice President of Hardware Technology, said this in a speech in Belgium when he received an award from Imec, an independent semiconductor research and development institute in collaboration with most of the world's largest chip manufacturers.

In the speech, Srouji explained Apple's journey in developing special chips, ranging from the first A4 chip used on the 2010 iPhone to the latest chips used on Mac computers and Vision Pro headsets.

He stated that one of the main lessons Apple learned was the importance of using the most advanced tools to design chips, including the latest chip design software from the company EDA (Electronic Design Automation).

Two major companies in the EDA'side Design Systems and Synopsys industry have been competing to add artificial intelligence features to their software.

EDA companies are critical in supporting the complexity of our chip design, said Srouji. Generative AI techniques have high potential to generate more designs in a shorter time, and this could be a huge boost to productivity.

He also revealed that another important lesson in Apple's chip design process is to dare to make big decisions and not look back.

When Apple decided to move the company's oldest active product Mac 'computer line' from Intel chips to homemade chips by 2020, the company did not prepare a backup plan if the move failed.

Moving the Mac to Apple Silicon is a big bet for us. There is no backup plan, there is no option of dividing the product line, we are really all-in, including massive effort on the software side," said Srouji.