OpenAI and rival AI labs are buying tens of thousands of Mac minis to train computer-use agents
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OpenAI and other AI labs have reportedly purchased tens of thousands of Mac minis and Mac Studios to train computer-use agents capable of handling multi-step tasks autonomously. OpenAI wants even more units, but the most powerful models have been sold out for months due to a memory chip shortage. Anthropic is also involved, renting Mac minis through AWS. The Mac mini is gaining popularity as a local AI computer, partly driven by OpenClaw hype, with strong chips, shared memory, and solid cooling making it suitable for long-running AI workloads. Nvidia's DGX Spark offers a compact alternative, relying on dedicated GPU power rather than Apple's unified memory architecture. Open-source software Exo allows users to link multiple Macs into a cluster for running large models locally, and a former OpenAI infrastructure team member is building an Apple-based cloud service called Mount Thor. Apple's Mac revenue rose nearly 29 percent to $10.4 billion in the June quarter.
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