Apple has cut the daily AI spending cap for some of its engineers to $200 from $300, effective in October, Bloomberg reported on November 4, citing people familiar with the matter. The caps apply to tokens, the units of data AI models process, which coding and debugging consume heavily.
The company is reportedly weighing further cuts that would take some engineering teams to $100 a day, while many non-engineering staff, who already have a $100 cap, could drop to $25 for some teams. Employees with heavier needs can request an exception from senior leadership. Some staff were not reaching the earlier limits, so the savings are uncertain.
The move comes as Apple's costs keep rising: R&D spending grew 32% in fiscal 2026 and operating expenses rose 22% to $75.5 billion. Microsoft, Tesla, Uber and Meta have also tightened internal AI spending controls. Apple declined to comment.