During today’s investor conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook addressed inquiries about the Chinese AI company DeepSeek, highlighting its potential as a favorable shift for the iPhone maker.
Ben Reitzes, an analyst at Melius, inquired about Apple’s perspective on the emergence of DeepSeek, noting its implications for reduced costs associated with developing and operating advanced AI models.
Hi, Tim. I had to ask—I know you anticipated this question. There’s a belief that you stand to gain significantly from the reduced computing costs. What’s your take on the broader impact of DeepSeek, particularly in terms of how it might influence your margins and execution capabilities, especially given forthcoming cost reductions that could naturally occur? I’d appreciate your insights.
Cook acknowledged DeepSeek’s innovations, specifically its ability to lower the expenses related to training and deploying its V3 model, which rivals the ChatGPT o3 model:
Generally, I believe that innovations which enhance efficiency are beneficial, and that’s clearly reflected in this model.
Our seamless integration of hardware and software continues to work to our advantage. We perform operations both on-device and in our private cloud, which is architecturally similar to on-device processes.
Furthermore, in terms of capital expenditure, we adopt a careful and strategic approach, and we remain committed to our hybrid model that consistently serves us well.
This hybrid model, which includes the development of Apple Intelligence alongside OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has garnered attention this week. Apple’s strategy appears to avoid over-commitment to AI at a time when both development and operational costs are expected to decrease. This doesn’t imply a slowdown in AI initiatives, but it does alleviate the immediate pressures. For additional details about DeepSeek and its influence on the American AI landscape, check out our 9to5Neural overview of the topic.
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