Apple’s Deal-Shy Culture Risks Its AI Future

Apple is under growing pressure to make a bold move in artificial intelligence as competitors accelerate their advances. Reports suggest executives have discussed acquiring either French startup Mistral AI, valued at $10 billion, or AI-driven search engine Perplexity, worth $20 billion. Yet, no action has been taken, reflecting a deeper conflict within Apple’s leadership: its historic aversion to large acquisitions versus the urgent need to secure world-class AI talent and technology.

Unlike Microsoft or Google, Apple has long avoided mega-deals. Its largest acquisition remains the $3 billion Beats purchase in 2014. Instead, Apple favors smaller “acqui-hires” to integrate talent and technology seamlessly into its ecosystem. This approach reflects Apple’s culture of control and confidence in building innovations in-house—a strategy that has paid off with Apple Silicon. But generative AI, evolving at a breakneck pace, may not lend itself to a purely “build-it-yourself” approach.

Mistral’s efficient, open-weight large language models could supercharge Siri while aligning with Apple’s privacy-first focus by enabling on-device AI. Meanwhile, acquiring Perplexity could give Apple its own AI-driven search engine, freeing it from paying billions to Google and providing a strategic edge in services.

Apple’s leadership is split. Services chief Eddy Cue has pushed for large acquisitions in the past, while software chief Craig Federighi favors continuing Apple’s build-from-within strategy. CEO Tim Cook underscores Apple’s tradition of prioritizing quality over speed, citing its late but successful entries into PCs and smartphones.

With Microsoft integrating OpenAI deeply and Google advancing its Gemini models, Apple risks falling behind. Its delayed rollout of a conversational, LLM-powered Siri highlights the limits of going solo. Unless Apple overcomes its deal-shy culture, it may miss out on the most significant technological revolution since the smartphone.