Since 2020, Apple Silicon has sparked new competition in the industry, and while AMD is trailing closely behind the tech giant from Cupertino, Intel finds itself lagging significantly. AMD is emulating Apple’s strategy by integrating the CPU, GPU, and unified memory, much like Apple’s M series chips. Although AMD hasn’t directly credited Apple for the idea, they acknowledged that their chip wouldn’t have come into being without influence from the Cupertino powerhouse.
### AMD Admits Apple’s Impact, Shifting Focus Towards Performance with Ryzen AI Max Chips
We’ve previously discussed how the Ryzen AI Max chips deliver impressive specs with up to 16 CPU cores, 50 GPU cores, and an astonishing 128GB of unified memory. AMD claims that these chips can render 3D graphics at over twice the speed of Intel’s Core Ultra 9 288V. Despite the similarities, AMD denies borrowing the integration idea from Apple, asserting they’ve been on this path well before Apple. As Engadget elaborates on this nuanced relationship:
> You might suspect AMD took inspiration from Apple Silicon’s robust CPU cores, graphic capabilities, and unified memory. But VP Joe Macri asserts that AMD has been paving this way long before Apple’s emergence. “We were creating APUs [chips with combined CPUs and Radeon graphics] while Apple relied on discrete GPUs, even using our discrete GPUs. So I wouldn’t say Apple invented the concept.”
However, Apple’s sway was quite significant, which undoubtedly influenced AMD’s approach in developing their new chip along the lines of Apple’s M-series.
> Macri acknowledges Apple’s role in showing that discrete graphics aren’t necessary to market high-performance computers. “A lot of folks in the PC industry insisted that if you want graphics, they have to be discrete, or people will presume poor graphics quality,” he noted.
Apple’s shift to its custom silicon highlights how consumers can prefer an all-encompassing solution rather than individual components. Ultimately, consumers care more about the machine’s overall performance, a realization that propelled AMD to replicate Apple’s strategy with the Ryzen AI Max chips.
> With the rise of Apple Silicon, Macri finally received the nod to invest vast sums into the development of the Ryzen AI Max. “I’ve always believed, since we were crafting APUs, and pushing for this comprehensive APU, that a smaller, faster system offering much higher performance at the same power could be created,” he stated.
AMD places its latest chip in comparison with Apple’s M4 and M4 Pro, opting not to match it against the M4 Max for obvious competitive reasons. Apple’s been leveraging the same architecture since 2020 with its M1 chip and has fully transitioned to its bespoke silicon, saying goodbye to Intel across its Mac lineup. Expect AMD Ryzen AI Max laptops to hit the market in the first half of this year, and stay tuned for more updates.
