SAN FRANCISCO — Apple has officially become a member of the Ultra Accelerator Link (UALink) Consortium, a collaborative effort focused on advancing data center connectivity for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the consortium announced Tuesday.
The UALink initiative is developing a new connectivity standard aimed at linking AI accelerator chips across data centers, which are becoming increasingly essential for the rapid expansion of AI workloads. Apple’s addition to the board, alongside major players such as Alibaba and semiconductor firm Synopsys, marks a significant milestone for the organization, which was founded in late October 2024 and now includes over 65 member companies.
Becky Loop, Apple’s Director of Platform Architecture, expressed strong confidence in the UALink initiative, noting that it “holds great promise” in tackling connectivity challenges while facilitating new opportunities for the expansion of AI capabilities. “Apple has a long history of pioneering and collaborating on innovations that drive our industry forward,” Loop said, highlighting the company’s enthusiasm for joining the UALink board.
UALink is designed to optimize the connection of chips, from GPUs to custom-built solutions, enhancing the speed and efficiency of AI model training, fine-tuning, and execution. Built on open standards like AMD’s Infinity Fabric, UALink is expected to launch its first products within the next few years, as reported by TechCrunch.
Other notable members of the UALink consortium include tech giants Intel, AMD, Google, AWS, Microsoft, and Meta.
Apple’s move to join the UALink effort comes as the company continues to ramp up investments in AI infrastructure. Reports from The Wall Street Journal suggest that Apple is working on developing a new server chip designed to enhance the performance and efficiency of its AI data centers, a key component of its growing AI product suite, Apple Intelligence.
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