Apple Intelligence strategy: Billion-euro bet against AI backlog

Tim Cook announces an aggressive investment offensive and M&A activities, while new hardware competition threatens the iPhone business model.

Strategic realignment following performance deficits

Apple is responding to the growing pressure to innovate in the AI segment with a fundamental reallocation of resources. CEO Tim Cook defined AI as the "most profound technology of our time" and announced its complete integration into all product lines and company levels.

Aggressive M&A positioning for technology catch-up

For the first time, the company has explicitly signaled its willingness to make major acquisitions in the AI sector, having already made several smaller acquisitions. Cook emphasized the openness to transactions that "accelerate our roadmap" - a notable departure from Apple's traditionally cautious M&A strategy.

Infrastructure investments reach record level

Capital expenditures for private cloud compute infrastructures exploded to USD 9.5 billion in the first nine months, already exceeding the previous year's volume. Despite this increase, Apple is still far removed from the investment levels of its Microsoft and Google competitors. CFO forecasts point to "substantial" further increases, with the hybrid model including external infrastructures such as ChatGPT integration.

Hardware threat from OpenAI cooperation

The announcement of a Jony Ive/OpenAI collaboration for independent AI hardware by 2026 provoked investor unrest. Cook countered with references to the three billion iPhones sold and positioned potential AI devices as a complementary, not a substitute, product category.

Siri transformation is delayed

The expanded Siri functions originally announced for iOS 18 have been postponed to 2026, while Cook claims "good progress" in the development of a "more personalized" version. This development illustrates Apple's paradigm shift from organic growth to acquisition-based technology acceleration in the critical AI segment.