Apple Inc. has reportedly acquired DarwinAI Corp., a startup with a platform for finding manufacturing faults in printed circuit boards.

Bloomberg reported the deal today, citing people familiar with the matter. The sources detailed that the acquisition closed earlier this year but didn’t specify the price tag. It’s believed that several dozen DarwinAI employees joined Apple through the transaction.

DarwinAI was founded in 2017 by four University of Waterloo researchers. It went on to raise more than $15 million from industrial giant Honeywell International Inc., the Business Development Bank of Canada and other investors. DarwinAI used the capital to develop a machine learning platform for finding hardware issues in printed circuit boards.

A printed circuit board, or PCB, is a flat, rectangular panel that holds an electronic device’s core components. PCBs are used as motherboards in personal computers and servers. They can also be found in simpler devices such as USB flash drives.

PCBs are manufactured separately from the electronic components they hold. Once those electronic components are installed on a PCB, it becomes known as a printed circuit board assembly. DarwinAI’s platform can automatically detect faults in such assemblies, which reduces the amount of manual work involved in manufacturers’ quality assurance efforts.

It’s unclear how Apple plans to use the technology. One possibility is that the company might make DarwinAI’s platform available to the contract manufacturers tasked with producing parts for its devices. Those manufacturers, in turn, could use the software to more efficiently detect faulty components. 

According to Bloomberg, DarwinAI also focused on making “artificial intelligence systems smaller and faster.” The company’s expertise in that area could likewise prove valuable for Apple, which is reportedly preparing to roll out a raft of new generative AI features. Those features are expected to debut as soon as June when the company holds its WWDC developer conference.

In February, Bloomberg reported that Apple is working on a new AI-powered version of its Xcode platform. The platform, which developers use to write software for the company’s operating systems, is expected to gain a built-in programming assistant. It will reportedly be capable of generating code for tasks such as testing newly developed applications.

Apple is also said to be working on an AI-powered version of the search bar in iOS and macOS. According to Bloomberg’s sources, the upgraded search bar will enable users to perform actions in apps using natural language commands. Apple’s Keynote presentation tool, in turn, is expected to gain AI features for creating slideshows.

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