Apple CEO Tim Cook signaled on Thursday the iPhone maker was ready to spend more to catch up to rivals in artificial intelligence by building more data centers or buying a larger player in the segment, a departure from a long practice of fiscal frugality.

苹果首席执行官蒂姆·库克于周四表示，这家iPhone制造商准备加大投入，通过增建数据中心或收购该领域规模更大的企业，在人工智能领域追赶竞争对手， 这与苹果长期以来在财政上精打细算的做法有所不同。

Apple has struggled to keep pace with rivals such as Microsoft and Alphabet's Google, both of which have attracted hundreds of millions of users to their AI-powered chatbots and assistants. That growth has come at a steep cost, however, with Google planning to spend $85 billion over the next year and Microsoft on track to spend more than $100 billion, mostly on data centers.

苹果一直在努力跟上微软和Alphabet旗下谷歌等竞争对手的步伐， 微软和谷歌母公司字母表公司等竞争对手，均已吸引数亿用户使用其基于人工智能的聊天机器人和智能助手，苹果在这方面一直难以与之匹敌。 然而，这一增长背后成本高昂， 谷歌计划在明年投入850亿美元，微软预计投入也将超1000亿美元，其中大部分资金将用于数据中心建设。

Apple, in contrast, has leaned on outside data center providers to handle some of its cloud computing work, and despite a high-profile partnership with ChatGPT creator OpenAI for certain iPhone features, has tried to grow much of its AI technology in-house, including improvements to its Siri virtual assistant. The results have been rocky, with the company delaying its Siri improvements until next year.

相比之下，苹果一直依赖外部数据中心提供商来处理部分云计算工作。 尽管苹果与ChatGPT开发者OpenAI就iPhone的某些功能达成了备受瞩目的合作，但仍在努力自主研发大部分人工智能技术， 包括改进其虚拟助手Siri。 然而，成果并不理想，公司已将Siri的改进计划推迟至明年。

During a conference call after Apple's fiscal third-quarter results, analysts noted that Apple has historically not done large deals and asked whether it might take a different approach to pursue its AI ambitions. CEO Cook responded that the company had already acquired seven smaller companies this year and is open to buying larger ones.

在苹果公布第三财季业绩后的电话会议上， 分析师指出苹果历来没有进行过大型交易，并询问苹果是否会采取不同策略来实现其人工智能雄心。 库克回应称，苹果今年已经收购了七家小型公司，并且不排斥收购规模更大的企业。

"We're very open to M&A that accelerates our roadmap. We are not stuck on a certain size company, although the ones that we have acquired thus far this year are small in nature," Cook said. "We basically ask ourselves whether a company can help us accelerate a roadmap, and if they do, then we're interested."

库克表示：“对于能够加速我们发展进程的并购交易，我们持开放态度。 我们并不局限于收购特定规模的公司，尽管我们今年迄今为止收购的公司规模都较小。” “我们主要会问自己，一家公司能否帮助我们加速发展进程，如果可以，我们就会感兴趣。”

Apple has tended to buy smaller firms with highly specialized technical teams to build out specific products. Its largest deal ever was its purchase of Beats Electronics for $3 billion in 2014, followed by a $1 billion deal to buy a modem chip business from Intel.

苹果倾向于收购拥有高度专业化技术团队的小型公司，以开发特定产品。 苹果有史以来规模最大的交易是2014年以30亿美元收购Beats Electronics， 其次是斥资10亿美元从英特尔手中收购调制解调器芯片业务。

But now Apple is at a unique crossroads for its business. The tens of billions of dollars per year it receives from Google as payment to be the default search engine on iPhones could be undone by U.S. courts in Google's antitrust trial, while startups like Perplexity are in discussions to try to dislodge Google with an AI-powered browser that would handle many search functions.

但如今，苹果的业务正面临独特的十字路口。 谷歌每年向苹果支付数十亿美元，以成为iPhone的默认搜索引擎， 但在谷歌反垄断案中，美国法院可能会取消这一交易。 与此同时，像Perplexity这样的初创公司正在讨论推出一款基于人工智能的浏览器，该浏览器将具备许多搜索功能，试图取代谷歌的地位。

Apple executives have said in court they are considering reshaping the firm's Safari browser with AI-powered search functions, and Bloomberg News has reported that Apple executives have discussed buying Perplexity, which Reuters has not independently confirmed.

苹果高管在法庭上表示，他们正在考虑用基于人工智能的搜索功能重塑公司的Safari浏览器。 据彭博社报道，苹果高管已讨论过收购Perplexity，但路透社尚未独立证实这一消息。

Apple also said on Thursday it plans to spend more on data centers, an area where it typically spends only a few billion dollars per year. Apple is currently using its own chip designs to handle AI requests with privacy controls that are compatible with the privacy features on its devices.

苹果周四还表示，计划增加在数据中心方面的投入，而该领域以往每年的投入通常仅为几十亿美元。 苹果目前正使用其自主研发的芯片设计来处理人工智能请求，并采用与设备隐私功能兼容的隐私控制措施。

Kevan Parekh, Apple's chief financial officer, did not give specific spending targets but said outlays would rise.

苹果首席财务官凯万·帕雷克未给出具体的支出目标，但表示支出将会增加。

"It's not going to be exponential growth, but it is going to grow substantially," Parekh said during the conference call.

帕雷克在电话会议上表示：“支出不会呈指数级增长，但会大幅增加。”

"A lot of that's a function of the investments we're making in AI."

“这很大程度上取决于我们在人工智能领域的投资。”