Na edição mais recente da sua newsletter “Power On”, o jornalista da Bloomberg Mark Gurman comentou sobre os planos da Apple envolvendo o Mac Pro antes de anunciar a sua descontinuação no início do ano — incluindo dois modelos descartados e variantes ainda mais poderosas dos chips Apple Silicon do que as da linha Ultra — e a implementação da inteligência artificial (IA) no atendimento do Genius Bar.

Segundo o Gurman, a Apple desenvolveu pelo menos dois modelos do Mac Pro que nunca viram a luz do dia: um com processador da Intel — mesmo depois do lançamento da linha M1, curiosamente —, de codinome J170, para atender casos específicos; e outro equipado com o M3 Ultra, chamado internamente de J190 e previsto para ser lançado junto da última leva do Mac Studio, que chegou ao mercado no começo do ano passado. 

Um caminho possível para a linha seria um suposto chip superior aos do sufixo Ultra; citado pelo jornalista como a variante “Extreme”, ele teria como objetivo oferecer o dobro de núcleos de CPU ¹Central processing unit, ou unidade central de processamento. e GPU ²Graphics processing unit, ou unidade de processamento gráfico. em relação aos do Ultra, e o desenvolvimento do projeto chegou até o M3 antes de ser encerrado devido à preocupação com custos e demanda.

Genius Bar com IA?

Na mesma edição, o jornalista comentou que a Apple passou a testar a implementação de um sistema que utiliza IA para registrar conversas entre clientes e funcionários do Genius Bar.

Intitulado Live Notes, o recurso opcional testado em algumas Apple Stores permitiria que os funcionários do Genius Bar registrassem transcrições dos seus atendimentos com uma ferramenta capaz ainda de resumir as interações com os clientes. Ambas as partes deverão consentir com a gravação e o resultado final é passível de ajustes, sendo adicionado ao iPad do funcionário como parte do registro do atendimento ou reparo.

Ainda assim, o teste gerou preocupações entre os empregados, os quais temem que esses registros poderão ser usados para metrificar avaliações de desempenho e o trabalho dos colegas. A Apple teria descartado essa possibilidade, afirmando que as gravações não serão armazenadas e que nem mesmo os gerentes possuirão acesso às transcrições.

Notas de rodapé

• 1
  Central processing unit, ou unidade central de processamento.
• 2
  Graphics processing unit, ou unidade de processamento gráfico.

Taiwanese prosecutors on Monday indicted a former deputy manager at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for allegedly stealing trade secrets involving technologies designated as national core technologies, with the intent to use them in China.

The defendant, identified by the surname Chen, faces charges under Taiwan’s National Security Act and the Trade Secrets Act. Prosecutors are seeking a seven-year prison sentence.

According to the indictment, Chen conspired with a Hong Kong national between 2023 and 2024 to establish CSMAC, a semiconductor materials analysis company in China. He is accused of copying 21 TSMC documents containing national core technologies and other proprietary trade secrets for use in the new venture.

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a key supplier to companies such as Nvidia and Apple, detected the unauthorized copying through an internal investigation and successfully recovered all duplicated documents. The Hong Kong co-conspirator was not prosecuted because he had died. Chen remains in custody, and Reuters was unable to reach him for comment. TSMC declined to comment on the case.

Prosecutors described this as Taiwan’s first indictment involving the alleged theft of trade secrets related to technologies officially designated as national core technologies for intended use in China.

The case underscores heightened concerns in Taiwan over China’s efforts to recruit Taiwanese semiconductor talent and acquire advanced chip know-how. In response, Taiwan has significantly tightened protections for technologies deemed critical to its economic and national security.

MacDailyNews Take: TSMC clearly plays a central role in the global semiconductor supply chain, making the protection of its intellectual property a matter of strategic importance far beyond Taiwan’s borders.

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

The post Taiwan indicts former TSMC deputy manager for alleged theft of national core technology trade secrets intended for China appeared first on MacDailyNews.

Apple is quietly shopping for AI chip companies. According to a new report from The Information, the company has been approaching chip startups and consulting with bankers about potential acquisitions — a notable shift for a firm long known for its reluctance to make big hardware buys.

The move comes as Apple grapples with limitations in its current AI infrastructure. Its Private Cloud Compute servers, which power parts of Apple Intelligence, currently rely on internally designed M2 Ultra chips. These have proven insufficient for handling larger, more demanding AI models.

The Siri Overhaul Problem

One concrete example stands out: Apple has been working on a major Siri overhaul powered in part by Google’s Gemini models through a partnership. When engineers tried running these advanced models on Apple’s own servers, the M-series hardware fell short. As a result, more complex Siri tasks are now routing through Nvidia GPUs hosted in Google’s cloud infrastructure.

This dependency clashes with Apple’s long-standing preference for controlling its own silicon and protecting user privacy through on-device and Private Cloud Compute processing.

Baltra Delayed

Internally, Apple has been developing its first dedicated AI server chip, codenamed Baltra. The company had originally targeted a 2026 launch, but the timeline has slipped. Baltra is designed as a purpose-built server ASIC (with Broadcom contributing key networking and interconnect technology) to reduce reliance on third-party GPUs for cloud AI workloads.

The reported pursuit of acquisitions suggests Apple wants to accelerate progress on its next-generation server silicon — either by bringing in specialized talent and IP or by acquiring teams that have already solved similar challenges.

A Rare Shift in M&A Approach

Apple has historically avoided large acquisitions, preferring to build technology in-house. Its most recent notable deal was the January 2026 acquisition of Israeli audio AI startup Q.ai (reportedly valued around $2 billion). With roughly $45.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of late March 2026, Apple certainly has the financial firepower if it chooses to move.

This new interest in chip startups marks a pragmatic acknowledgment that the AI hardware race — particularly in data center-scale inference and training — moves extremely fast. While Apple excels at designing efficient mobile and laptop chips, scaling specialized AI accelerators for servers is a different challenge that hyperscalers like Google, Amazon, and Meta have been tackling for years.

Broader Context

This development comes just days after Apple announced a major multi-year expansion of its partnership with Broadcom, worth more than $30 billion. The deal includes custom silicon components and supports U.S. manufacturing expansion in Colorado. It underscores Apple’s broader push to strengthen its custom silicon capabilities while also highlighting how much it still relies on external partners for certain advanced technologies.

What It Means

If Apple follows through on acquisitions, it could help close the gap in its cloud AI infrastructure faster than organic development alone would allow. Success here would support more ambitious on-device and private-cloud AI features without heavy dependence on external clouds and GPUs.

It would also represent a meaningful evolution in Apple’s strategy: from a company that largely designs its own chips from scratch to one willing to acquire specialized expertise to stay competitive in the AI era.

The coming months will reveal whether these discussions lead to actual deals — and whether they can meaningfully accelerate Apple’s ability to run sophisticated AI models on its own terms.

MacDailyNews Take: The mad scramble to catch up continues. Hopefully, new Apple CEO John Ternus can quickly kick things back into high gear after far too many years of coasting along in neutral.

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

The post Apple reportedly pursuing AI chip company acquisitions appeared first on MacDailyNews.

According to Bloomberg News‘ Mark Gurman in his most recent Power On newsletter, Apple is making one of the biggest changes yet to its Apple Silicon roadmap for Macs. The company is prioritizing on-device AI performance and graphics capabilities over its traditional generational cadence, leading to a skipped generation of high-end chips and a faster push toward the M7 family.

Apple’s New Chip Roadmap: M6 (Base Only), Then Straight to M7

Apple plans to release a base M6 chip as early as late 2026 for entry-level Macs. This includes testing in a refreshed 14-inch MacBook Pro (internally codenamed J804). Key improvements expected in the M6 include:

• Memory bandwidth rising to around 200 GB/s (up from 153 GB/s on the M5)

• Enhanced GPU performance with up to 12 cores

• A stronger neural engine for better AI workloads

In a notable departure from past strategy, Apple will skip M6 Pro, M6 Max, and M6 Ultra variants entirely. This marks the first time the company has bypassed higher-end versions of a new chip generation.

Instead, Apple is fast-tracking the M7 series to deliver major advancements in on-device AI processing and graphics performance sooner. According to Gurman’s reporting:

• Base M7 — Expected in the first half of 2027

• M7 Pro and M7 Max — Targeted for late 2027

• M7 Ultra — Slated for 2028 (with support for up to 1.5 TB of memory in high-end configurations)

The M7 lineup (with codenames like Delos for the base and Andros for the higher variants) represents Apple’s effort to meet surging demand for AI features and more graphics-intensive software by accelerating technologies originally planned for later generations.

Gurman also notes that M8 chips are already in active development, with high-end variants expected around 2028 on an advanced manufacturing process.

First-Ever Touch MacBook Pro Coming Soon

Gurman’s newsletter also covers Apple’s long-rumored touchscreen MacBook Pro models (14-inch and 16-inch, codenamed K114 and K116). These represent the biggest hardware overhaul of the high-end MacBook Pro lineup since the transition away from Intel chips.

Key details:

• Expected launch window: Late 2026 or early 2027

• Initial models will use current-generation M5 Pro and M5 Max chips (aligning with the decision to skip high-end M6 variants)

• First MacBooks to feature OLED displays

• Adoption of an iPhone-style Dynamic Island interface (with a hole-punch camera cutout replacing the current notch)

• Touch support designed as a “bonus” feature rather than a primary input method — macOS updates will allow seamless switching between touch and traditional trackpad/keyboard use, with adaptive UI elements

Later follow-up models are expected to transition to the new M7 chips once available. The redesigned laptops are also described as potentially thinner and lighter, with reinforced components to handle touch input without screen bounce.

Why the Change? AI Is Reshaping Apple’s Priorities

Gurman explains that this unusual strategy shift allows Apple to focus engineering resources on the more significant architectural leap in the M7 generation. By skipping incremental high-end M6 chips, the company can deliver stronger on-device AI capabilities and graphics performance to its most powerful Macs faster.

This aligns with broader industry trends and Apple’s ongoing push into AI across its ecosystem (including new Apple Pencil models also mentioned in the newsletter).
‎
MacDailyNews Take: M6, we hardly knew ya!

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

The post Apple skips M6 Pro/Max, fast-tracks AI-focused M7 chips; Touchscreen MacBook Pro looms appeared first on MacDailyNews.

According to the company’s latest report, Apple Silicon-supplier TSMC posted second-quarter revenue of approximately T$1.27 trillion (about $39.62 billion), marking a robust 36% increase from the same period a year earlier. This result slightly exceeded analyst expectations and set a new quarterly record, driven primarily by surging demand for AI applications.

For June alone, revenue climbed an impressive 67.9% year-on-year to T$442.68 billion, up 6.2% from the previous month. The strong showing pushed first-half 2026 revenue to NT$2.4 trillion, reflecting 35.6% growth.

Why This Matters for Apple

Apple relies heavily on TSMC for the cutting-edge processors that power its flagship devices, including the A-series and M-series chips in iPhones, iPads, and Macs. The Taiwanese foundry manufactures Apple’s most advanced silicon on leading-edge process nodes—technology also in high demand for AI accelerators.

This interdependence became particularly evident in Apple’s own Q2 fiscal 2026 results (ended March 2026), where the company reported record revenue of $111.2 billion. However, iPhone supply was constrained by limited availability of advanced chips from TSMC, even as demand for the iPhone 17 lineup was described as “explosive.”

TSMC’s latest revenue beat signals strong momentum in the semiconductor ecosystem that directly benefits Apple. As TSMC ramps up production of next-generation nodes (including preparations for 2nm processes), it positions Apple to deliver even more powerful, efficient devices in upcoming cycles, including enhanced AI capabilities across its product lineup.

Broader Context: AI Driving the Semiconductor Renaissance

TSMC’s performance isn’t isolated. The company serves as the foundry backbone for the AI revolution, producing chips for Nvidia’s GPUs and Apple’s custom silicon alike. With AI demand showing no signs of slowing, analysts expect TSMC to potentially raise its full-year guidance when it reports full Q2 earnings on Thursday.

For investors and tech enthusiasts, this news reinforces a key theme: companies with deep exposure to advanced chip manufacturing — like Apple through its close TSMC partnership — are well-placed to capitalize on both consumer innovation and enterprise AI growth.

TSMC’s shares rose modestly ahead of the data release, continuing a strong year that has seen the stock gain around 57%. As the earnings call approaches, all eyes will be on forward guidance and how the foundry plans to balance AI priorities with partners like Apple.

MacDailyNews Take: TSMC’s record quarter isn’t just good news for Taiwan’s tech sector, it’s a bullish indicator for Apple’s innovation pipeline and the broader tech industry’s AI-fueled future.

‎
Please help support MacDailyNews — and enjoy subscriber-only articles, comments, chat, and more — by subscribing to our Substack: macdailynews.substack.com. Thank you!

Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.

The post TSMC’s record Q2 revenue surge highlights AI boom and Apple’s strategic chip partnership appeared first on MacDailyNews.