Apple has clearly spent the last several years dreaming of a world where it didn’t have to rely on third-parties to create its components. The hardware giant has already taken a number of steps in that direction with its own in-house chips, and a recent hire points at an even bigger push.
Per his LinkedIn account, former ARM Lead CPU Architect Mike Filippo joined up with Apple last month, following a 10 year stint with the semiconductor company. The move notably follows the exit of Apple chip design lead Gerard Williams III, back in March. Filippo appears perfectly suited for the role, having played a key part in a many of ARM’s virtually ubiquitous designs. He previously spent several years at both Intel and AMD.
ARM confirmed Filippo’s exit in a statement offered to Bloomberg. “Mike was a long-time valuable member of the ARM community,” the company said. “We appreciate all of his efforts and wish him well in his next endeavor.” Apple, on the other hand, has yet to officially confirm the move.
The company has increasingly looked to develop its own components in house. For some time now, it has purportedly been looking to ditch Intel processors for its own on Mac devices. It’s also said to be dabbling with its own chips for a long-rumored AR headset.
Along with the company’s long standing desire to developa complete bottom, up product experience in-house, doing so would greatly lessen its reliance on other companies. Those issues have been highlighted by moves like its recent decision to play nice with Qualcomm as it looks forward to the release of a 5G iPhone.
Written by Brian Heater
This news first appeared on https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/26/apple-hires-leading-arm-chip-designer/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29 under the title “Apple hires leading ARM chip designer”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
