OpenAI Buys Tens of Thousands of Macs for Computer-Use Agent RL Training

OpenAI has purchased tens of thousands of Mac minis and Mac Studios to train computer-use agents through reinforcement learning, and is seeking to acquire more. Other AI labs are making comparable purchases. The agents autonomously handle multi-step tasks by observing a computer screen, choosing an action, and learning from the outcome. Supply of the most powerful Mac configurations has been constrained for months by a memory chip shortage. Anthropic meets similar needs by renting Mac capacity through AWS rather than buying hardware outright. The purchases register in Apple's financials: Mac revenue reached $10.3 billion in Apple's June quarter, up 29% year-over-year and faster than every other reported Apple product category. Earlier in 2026, Apple reported $8.4 billion in Mac revenue for its March quarter, up 6% year-over-year, and cited AI-driven demand as a factor behind the result, which came in above Wall Street expectations of the low $8 billion range.