Apple seeks to catch up with Samsung and Google.

Apple is in discussions about acquiring Mistral AI and Perplexity to rapidly improve AI capabilities on iPhones and iPads.

An advertisement for the iPhone 16 featuring Apple Intelligence is displayed outside an Apple store. Photo: Bloomberg .

According to The Information , Apple executives are discussing the possibility of acquiring Mistral AI and Perplexity, two prominent startups in the field of AI modeling and chatbot development.

Rumors suggest that Vice President of Services Eddy Cue is a strong supporter of the strategy of acquiring AI companies to strengthen the services segment. He previously supported Apple's proposals to acquire Netflix and Tesla, but both plans were rejected by CEO Tim Cook.

In contrast to Cue, some other leaders at Apple, such as Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi, are reportedly unwilling to acquire the AI ​​startup. He believes that Apple can build its own AI technology.

Mistral AI was founded in 2023 and is headquartered in Paris, France. This startup specializes in developing open-source large language models (LLMs) designed to be small-scale, fast, and easier to deploy than its competitors.

Mistral AI positions itself as an alternative to OpenAI and Anthropic in the European market. The company claims that despite being small and fast, its models still deliver powerful performance in programming and reasoning tasks.

Backed by Nvidia, Mistral AI completed its Series B funding round last year, valuing the company at $6 billion . In early August, the Financial Times reported that the startup was in negotiations to raise an additional $1 billion , bringing its valuation to $10 billion .

Unlike Mistral AI, Perplexity, based in the US, is known for its AI-powered search and question-answering tools. Perplexity's products combine LLM and real-time internet information gathering, with all responses having clear origins.

Unlike traditional search engines, Perplexity prioritizes transparency by displaying source citations for answers. The company also positions itself as a Google Search alternative for users looking to research and aggregate information.

The logo of Perplexity AI. Photo: Bloomberg .

Rumors suggest Apple remains hesitant about pursuing the deal, which could cost billions of dollars. The article emphasizes that Apple does not advocate paying exorbitant amounts for acquisitions.

In the past, there have only been two instances of Apple acquiring companies at high valuations: Beats ( $3 billion ) and Intel's wireless modem business ( $1 billion ).

In addition to the acquisition idea, 9to5Mac reports that Apple is having its internal AI teams compete against each other to select the best AI model. The company also plans to collaborate with Anthropic and Google to integrate the model into Siri.

Compared to Google or Samsung, Apple is considered to be lagging behind in its strategy for deploying AI features on mobile devices.

Apple is embroiled in an antitrust lawsuit in the US, revolving around a $20 billion -a-year agreement to make Google the default search engine. According to MacRumors , the company may have to acquire the AI ​​search startup to fill the void if it loses the case.

In its statements to investors, Apple remains focused on acquiring smaller AI businesses. However, in its third-quarter earnings report, CEO Tim Cook emphasized that the company is "very open to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to accelerate progress."

Source: https://znews.vn/apple-tim-cach-bat-kip-samsung-google-post1580323.html