Apple Has Reportedly Found Its Apple Intelligence Partner for China
Credit: Benny Marty / Shutterstock
Toggle Dark Mode
Apple Intelligence is officially available in most English-speaking nations — and quite a few others if you’re willing to switch languages to try it out. However, one area has remained a challenge for Apple, and not only due to language issues.
When Apple debuted its new AI initiative last year, it told everyone that it would take time to embrace all languages. However, it also faced two specific global areas that were a bit more complicated, albeit not for the same reasons.
The European Union gave Apple pause due to its new Digital Markets Act (DMA), which complicated how to deploy integrated AI features without being forced to open up its platform even further to competitors. To be clear, the EU wasn’t telling Apple it couldn’t release Apple Intelligence there; it was Apple that wanted to make sure it would be able to do so in compliance with the EU’s rules. Those issues have presumably been resolved, as Apple has promised Apple Intelligence is coming to the EU in April when iOS 18.4 launches and also brings support for more languages.
China, on the other hand, gave Apple a flat no. That’s because Beijing has had a long-standing policy banning all foreign AI systems. Apple isn’t alone here; none of the other usual chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini are allowed to operate inside the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The problem Apple faced in China was twofold. The core Apple Intelligence features rely on Apple’s own AI large language models (LLMs), but Apple has also partnered with ChatGPT to provide access to expanded “world knowledge” resources that are beyond what Apple can tackle right now.
At the very least, this meant that Apple had to find a partner in China to replace ChatGPT. However, to run Apple Intelligence in the PRC, its own LLMs would need to pass muster with the Chinese government.
That’s never happened for a foreign AI model, but there was some hope that Apple’s unique approach to AI might give it a leg up. Apple could build a localized AI experience that appeals to Chinese users and doesn’t run afoul of Beijing’s ideology, with its on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute keeping everything nicely contained within the Great Firewall of China.
Nevertheless, that’s a tall order. The Chinese government tends to be wary of foreign influences and staunchly prefers that Apple seek a partner that’s trusted by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
As a result, Apple seems to have conceded that if it wants to launch Apple Intelligence in China, it needs to build an entirely different LLM into Chinese iPhones — and it’s spent the last several months trying to find a Chinese partner to help it do this.
This reportedly began with Baidu, which provides the default search engine for the iPhone in China. However, talks reportedly broke down after the two failed to come to terms on privacy and user data. By late 2024, Apple had reportedly moved into discussions with Tencent and ByteDance to fill the gap.
It’s unclear how far those talks went, but now it looks like Apple has settled on a fourth option: Alibaba.
While Apple has neither confirmed nor denied this, The Information’s Qianer Liu and Jing Yang published an exclusive report this morning citing a “person with direct knowledge of the decision.”
The partnership is far enough along that the two companies have already submitted their co-developed AI features to Chinese government regulators for approval, suggesting a launch of Apple Intelligence in China may not be as far away as we thought. Still, it’s unclear how long this approval process will take, and even assuming Apple and Alibaba received an unconditional green light to proceed, there’s still the time needed to incorporate the new LLMs into a future version of iOS.
It’s noteworthy that Apple has already announced plans to add Chinese language support to Apple Intelligence in April when iOS 18.4 is likely to be released. That will lay the necessary groundwork for a launch in China, but there are also millions of Chinese-speaking people outside that country who will benefit from being able to use Apple Intelligence in their primary language.
The report adds that Apple briefly considered using DeepSeek, but passed on it, for whatever reason. DeepSeek has created a lot of buzz in recent weeks due to its supposed ability to rival the big boys like ChatGPT with a fraction of the computing power, but experts have expressed some skepticism, believing it may have taken some shortcuts to get there, such as copying OpenAI’s homework. DeepSeek also has its share of privacy and security concerns, although it’s hard to imagine those matter nearly as much inside China.
