Welcome to 9 to 5 Mac Daily for Thursday, January 15th, 2026.

I'm your host, Chance Miller.

We are sponsored this week by Stuff, the to-do list app that helps you get everything out of your head and into a simple and elegant system.

Leading off today, Apple struck its deal with Google to power future AI features this week,

and now Ming Chi Kuo reports that Apple is gearing up to mass produce its in-house AI server chips

soon.

Quo says that Apple's self-developed AI server chips will enter mass production in the second

half of 2026, and its own data centers will begin construction and operation in 2027.

Quo says that this indicates Apple anticipates significant growth in on-device AI demand starting next year.

There have been rumors for years that Apple has planned to develop its own AI-focused server-class chips, so now it seems like

those plans are moving forward into production. And whatever critics may have lobbed at Apple for

its slow AI start and software quality, one undisputed current strength of the company is that

Silicon team. Apple Silicon is a core part of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac and gets better

year after year. Now that accomplished Silicon Team has its site set on these AI server chips.

There's no reason to think that Apple can't apply its expertise in Custom Silicon to this category.

Apple's AI server chips will presumably be used to power its private

cloud compute infrastructure, which is what it uses to power cloud-based AI features used by

Apple devices. Next up today, the United States was one of a handful of countries to escape

Spotify's recent price increases, but now that luck is coming to an end.

The previous price increase was implemented in a number of countries around the world, but the

United States was spared at least for a few months. Now Spotify says that its pricing in the

United States is increasing for its premium plan from $1199 per month to $12.99 per

...