Apple unveils M3 Ultra chip with 32-core CPU, 80-core GPU, and Thunderbolt 5

M3 Ultra

Apple has announced the M3 Ultra, its most powerful chip to date, designed for high-performance computing. Built using Apple’s UltraFusion packaging, it connects two M3 Max dies with over 10,000 high-speed connections, allowing seamless performance as a single unit. The chip debuts in the new Mac Studio and is designed for professionals handling intensive workloads such as AI development, 3D rendering, and video processing.

Apple M3 Ultra: Features

M3 Ultra features a 32-core CPU with 24 performance cores and eight efficiency cores, delivering up to 1.5x the performance of M2 Ultra. It also includes an 80-core GPU, which is up to twice as fast as its predecessor, supporting hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing. The chip is optimized for AI workloads with a 32-core Neural Engine and supports running large language models with over 600 billion parameters on-device.

The unified memory starts at 96GB and is configurable up to 512GB, surpassing workstation GPUs in capacity and bandwidth. M3 Ultra also introduces Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, offering up to 120 Gb/s data transfer speeds, more than double that of Thunderbolt 4. Each port is independently controlled, enabling high-speed external storage and expansion capabilities.

M3 Ultra’s media engine includes dedicated H.264, HEVC, and ProRes encoding and decoding capabilities, supporting playback of up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video. It also powers up to eight Pro Display XDRs, providing more than 160 million pixels.

Apple emphasizes M3 Ultra’s power efficiency, contributing to lower energy consumption across its product lifecycle. The company remains committed to its Apple 2030 initiative to achieve carbon neutrality across its operations and supply chain.

The Mac Studio featuring M3 Ultra is expected to enhance performance for professional users working with complex computing tasks. Apple aims to push the boundaries of AI development, video processing, and graphics-intensive applications with its latest chip.