Apple has trained a large language model specifically for the China market, three people familiar with the matter said, a departure from the iPhone maker’s strategy of relying on third-party models to power AI features in the country.
It would also make Apple the first foreign company approved by Beijing to offer a proprietary AI model in China, marking a rare collaboration by U.S. and Chinese tech firms amid a widening trade and diplomatic rift between the two countries over AI.
Apple Intelligence, the company’s suite of AI tools, is expected to launch in China in the coming months after an update to its iOS operating system, the people said.
Last week, Apple published a Chinese-language guide explaining how eligible Mac users in mainland China could connect Qwen to its Siri digital assistant and Writing Tools feature, a Mac-specific arrangement that could help it compete in China’s AI PC market. Apple has since deleted the guide, without providing an explanation.
Apple’s training of its own China-specific model has not been reported before.
The company had previously leaned towards domestic partners’ models to bring generative AI to iPhones and other devices sold in China, where U.S. models such as Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which Apple pairs with its own technology in its home market, are not available.
