Apple cuts engineers’ AI spending caps, Bloomberg reports

Apple ↘ 1.53% has started limiting how much its employees can spend on artificial intelligence tools. The move is part of a cost-cutting effort, even though the company wants AI at the center of how it operates. In October, Apple quietly lowered the daily AI spending cap for some engineers to $200 from $300, and it is planning more cuts that could bring some engineering teams down to $100 a day, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.bloomberg.com

The changes show how internal AI use has turned into a real expense for large tech companies, especially for heavy tasks like writing code. They come days after Apple reported its biggest year yet for research spending.

Tighter Caps Across Teams

Many groups outside engineering already have a $100 daily limit, and Apple has considered cutting that to as little as $25 for some teams, according to Bloomberg's report as summarized by Investing.com. Employees who need more to do their jobs can ask senior leadership for an exemption.investing.com

The budgets cover tokens, the units of text and data that AI models process. Providers charge by the number of tokens used, and coding and debugging can use up a lot of them. Apple staff can use Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. Some teams are now being told to switch to cheaper models or to models that run on the device, MacRumors reported.macrumors.com

Mixed Reactions and Layoff Worries

Employees have reacted in different ways. Some say few workers came close to using the full $300 a day, so the old limit was more generous than it needed to be. Others see the cuts as a sign of wider belt-tightening, which adds to worries about layoffs, Investing.com reported. Some Apple divisions have brought in outside consultants to review efficiency. Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer John Ternus is pushing for a faster, leaner company with fewer layers of management. How much money the cuts will actually save is unclear.investing.com

Rising AI Bills

Apple spent a record $45.77 billion on research and development in fiscal 2026, up 32% from $34.55 billion the year before, according to 9to5Mac. The company said the increase was driven mainly by infrastructure costs, including AI investments, along with costs tied to a larger workforce, The Mac Observer reported.9to5mac.com+1

On Ternus's first earnings call as CEO, Apple forecast that operating expenses for the December quarter will rise 11% to 13% from a year earlier, to between $20.4 billion and $20.8 billion. Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh attributed the increase to research and development, "in particular AI," PPC Land reported. "We continue to significantly increase our overall investments in AI while continuing to invest in the product roadmap," Parekh said on the call, according to Yahoo Finance.finance.yahoo.com+1