On stage on Monday CEO Tim Cook’s Apple announced a splashy deal with OpenAI to include its powerful artificial intelligence model as a part of its voice assistant, Siri. This highlights Apple’s commitment to integrating cutting-edge AI technology into its products.

In the fine print of a technical document Apple published after the event, the company makes clear that Alphabet’s Google has emerged as another winner in the Cupertino, California, company’s quest to catch up in AI. The collaboration between Apple and Google underscores the growing importance of strategic partnerships in the fiercely competitive AI landscape.

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To build Apple’s foundation AI models, the company’s engineers used its own framework software with a range of hardware, specifically its own on-premise graphics processing units (GPUs) and chips available only on Google’s cloud called tensor processing units (TPUs). This utilization of Google’s technology showcases the interdependence of major tech players in advancing AI capabilities.

Google has been building TPUs for roughly 10 years, and has publicly discussed two flavors of its fifth-generation chips that can be used for AI training; the performance version of the fifth generation offers performance competitive with Nvidia H100 AI chips, Google said. The continuous evolution of Google’s hardware highlights the rapid pace of innovation in the AI industry.

Google announced at its annual developer conference that a sixth generation will launch this year, signaling the company’s ongoing commitment to AI research and development. The introduction of new generations of TPUs underscores Google’s dedication to staying at the forefront of AI technology.

The processors are designed specifically to run AI applications and train models, and Google has built cloud computing hardware and software platform around them. This integrated approach demonstrates Google’s comprehensive strategy to support AI infrastructure and applications.

Apple and Google did not immediately return requests for comment. The silence from both companies adds to the mystery surrounding their collaboration and the true extent of their partnership in the AI domain.

Apple did not discuss the extent to which it relied on Google’s chips and software compared with hardware from Nvidia or other AI vendors. The lack of transparency raises questions about Apple’s reliance on external technology providers and the potential implications for its AI development.

But using Google’s chips typically requires a client to purchase access to them through its cloud division, much in the same way customers buy computing time from Amazon.com’s AWS or Microsoft’s Azure. Understanding the licensing and usage terms for Google’s technology is essential for companies like Apple to navigate the complexities of AI partnerships.