During Apple’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Cook told analysts that the tech giant is prepared to scale its AI efforts—whether by investing heavily in new data center infrastructure or by acquiring larger companies. While Apple has historically avoided large-scale mergers and acquisitions, the tone of Cook’s remarks suggested a more flexible approach going forward.
“We’re very open to M&A that accelerates our roadmap,” Cook said. “We are not stuck on a certain size company... We basically ask ourselves whether a company can help us accelerate a roadmap, and if they do, then we’re interested.”
That openness marks a strategic inflection point for Apple, which has often taken a slower, more controlled route to innovation—developing much of its technology internally or acquiring smaller firms with niche expertise. For context, the company’s largest acquisition to date remains the $3 billion purchase of Beats Electronics in 2014.
Apple’s renewed focus on AI comes amid fierce competition from rivals Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google, both of which have poured tens of billions into AI-powered tools like chatbots and virtual assistants. Microsoft is projected to spend over $100 billion this year, and Google plans to spend around $85 billion—figures largely tied to the expansion of data centers required to power their AI ecosystems.
Apple, by comparison, has traditionally relied on third-party providers for its cloud computing infrastructure. Though it has entered a high-profile partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into iOS features, Apple is still working to upgrade its own in-house tools, including its long-criticized Siri assistant. Improvements to Siri have now been delayed until next year.
In a nod to the company’s evolving priorities, Apple also announced it will begin ramping up its own data center investments. While specific figures weren’t disclosed, Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh described the upcoming increase as “substantial,” though not exponential.
“A lot of that’s a function of the investments we’re making in AI,” Parekh said.
The move toward greater investment in AI may also reflect Apple’s need to hedge against shifting industry dynamics. One of its most lucrative and least discussed revenue streams—the multibillion-dollar annual payment from Google to remain the default search engine on iPhones—is currently under scrutiny in a U.S. antitrust trial. A ruling against Google could impact that deal, potentially forcing Apple to rethink its strategy around search and browsing.
In fact, according to Bloomberg News, Apple executives have already held internal discussions about integrating AI-powered search tools directly into its Safari browser. There are also reports—still unconfirmed by Reuters—that Apple may be considering acquiring Perplexity, a startup developing an AI-powered search browser that some see as a challenger to Google.
Apple’s stock appeared to respond favorably to the company’s AI-forward posture, rising 1.7% in premarket trading Friday.
While Apple may still be playing catch-up in AI, its willingness to break from past habits—both in spending and strategy—suggests it’s no longer content to remain a cautious observer. Instead, the company seems poised to actively shape the next phase of intelligent computing.