Apple executives are exploring what could become the company's largest acquisition ever, as internal discussions about purchasing AI search startup Perplexity AI gain momentum.
The talks, led by Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions Adrian Perica alongside services chief Eddy Cue, reflect the iPhone maker's growing urgency to bolster its AI capabilities. While still preliminary and not guaranteed to result in an offer, the discussions signal a significant shift in Apple's AI strategy.
Perplexity AI, founded in 2022 and currently valued at $14 billion, has emerged as a formidable player in the AI search space. Unlike traditional search engines that return lists of links, Perplexity delivers conversational responses with source citations. The company processes over 400 million search queries monthly and recently completed a $500 million funding round led by Accel.
For Apple, acquiring Perplexity would serve multiple strategic purposes. First, it would provide an immediate infusion of AI talent and technology at a time when Apple's own AI initiatives have faced setbacks. The company's much-anticipated Siri upgrade was indefinitely delayed earlier this year, with Apple executives acknowledging at WWDC 2025 that the work "needed more time to meet our high-quality bar."
Second, Perplexity could offer Apple an alternative to its longstanding search arrangement with Google, which pays Apple billions annually to remain the default search engine on iPhones. This partnership faces increasing antitrust scrutiny, with regulators potentially forcing its termination.
The acquisition would significantly outpace Apple's previous largest purchase—the $3 billion Beats deal in 2014. While the $14 billion price tag represents a substantial investment, Apple's approximately $133 billion cash reserves make such a move financially feasible.
As competition in the AI space intensifies, with rivals like Google, Microsoft, and Meta making aggressive moves, Apple's interest in Perplexity underscores the company's determination to secure a leading position in the next generation of intelligent technology.