According to The Information, Apple plans to return to the server market and may partner with Nvidia for this. Apple discontinued its Xserve line in 2011 and has since mainly provided corporate machines to other manufacturers. However, the growing demand for computing power as the AI industry expands seems to have convinced the company that there is a niche for its powerful yet efficient ARM-series M processors. The Mac Mini and Mac Studio have become popular among AI developers, leading to their scarcity.
The server product, whether it will be called Xserve or otherwise, is likely to debut no earlier than 2029. Rumor has it that it will run on two or four (depending on the model) M8 Ultra processors. Apple only announced the M6 in August, so the M8 lineup is still a long way off.
There are also rumors that Apple servers may use Nvidia's NVLink Fusion technology, which connects multiple chips together, allowing them to operate as a single unit. Although historically the relationship between the two companies has been cool, Apple recently turned to Nvidia chips to power its updated Siri servers. The implementation of NVLink could lead to further collaboration between them, but plans may still change.
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