Ming-Chi Kuo, the well-regarded Apple analyst, is not buying into the recent buzz about the iPhone maker entering into a $1 billion deal with Nvidia.
The rumored purchase involves Apple’s acquisition of Nvidia’s GB300 NVL72, amounting to around 250 racks or 18,000 GPUs. In Kuo’s view, this order size barely registers on the scale needed to make a dent in Apple’s AI strategy.
Such a purchase pales compared to other tech giants’ AI ambitions, the analyst noted.
For instance, Meta, a company often used as a benchmark for big tech investments in AI, plans to procure a staggering 1.3 million GPUs in 2025.
This is roughly 70 times the volume of Apple’s rumored order.
With such numbers, any perceived significance of Apple’s rumored procurement seems negligible, especially given the extensive AI foothold its peers have established.
Additionally, the timeline for Nvidia’s GB300 NVL72 shipment is not in Apple’s favor.
Mass shipments aren’t anticipated to start until the first half of 2026, merely prolonging Apple’s road to boosting its AI infrastructure.
With Apple relying on suppliers like Dell and Super Micro — hardly top-tier assemblers — the actual availability of racks could be delayed until late 2026 or beyond.
This lag leaves Apple without a competitive AI edge in the near term — certainly not within the next year.
The excitement around Apple’s potential Nvidia purchase comes as many tech giants are making substantial strides in AI.
For instance, Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI and Amazon’s $8 billion infusion into Anthropic reflect major commitments to AI advancements, closely tied with Nvidia’s GPUs, raising questions about what truly lies ahead for Apple’s AI future.
These companies are part of a larger trend of AI infrastructure investments that go far beyond the rumored Apple deal, making the proposed $1 billion acquisition almost seem trivial in comparison.
Apple has been falling behind in the generative AI race, bringing out Apple Intelligence in what felt like a rushed launch, and failed to incentivize enough iPhone users to upgrade to newer models, as the company had hoped.
Apple shares traded 0.78% higher at $219.67 at the time of writing, outperforming the market with the Nasdaq down 1.29% amid recession fears.
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