Apple unveils M5 Ultra chip with 80-core GPU for AI and 8K video workloads

Apple’s latest silicon offering, the M5 Ultra, merges four M5 Max dies into a quad-die architecture, a first for the company’s chips. The design provides a record 4.4 TB/s interconnect, enabling the four dies to act as a single processor with up to 36 cores—12 super and 24 performance cores—and an 80-core GPU that accelerates AI workloads by roughly 4.5 times compared with the M3 Ultra. Memory capacity reaches 512 GB with 1.2 TB/s bandwidth, a 50 % increase over the previous generation, though the base configuration starts at $5,499.

The chip also features an enhanced Media Engine for 8K video, supporting multiple ProRes engines and hardware-accelerated AV1, H.264 and HEVC codecs. Alongside the M5 Ultra, Apple announced the M6, its first 2-nm processor built by TSMC, slated for future Mac mini, iMac and MacBook models, offering modest CPU and neural-processing gains and a focus on power efficiency. Apple emphasizes that both chips deliver industry-leading energy efficiency, targeting AI researchers and professional creators who need on-device processing of large models. Reviews from one outlet are expected to assess real-world performance and efficiency claims.