Apple pulls back the curtain on its secretive chip development operation
The engineering team responsible for the custom silicon that powers hundreds of millions of Apple's iOS devices is the latest beneficiary of the company's relatively newfound openness.
Srouji in one of Apple's chip testing centers, via Bloomberg
"The airplane was taking off, and I was building the runway just in time," Apple SVP of Hardware Technologies Jojny Srouji said of his group's efforts to get the A4 -- Apple's first in-house mobile CPU -- ready to ship in the iPhone 4. That sentence is emblematic of the team's mission to push the silicon envelope, shown in detail for the first time by Bloomberg.
Srouji's reports number in the hundreds, mostly split between Apple's Cupertino headquarters and research and development facilities in Israel. A-series chips are the group's primary focus, but Srouji hints that everything from new battery technology to in-house Wi-Fi modems could be part of its portfolio.
Apple's mobile silicon ambitions extend back as far as 2007, when the original iPhone shipped with numerous technical limitations thanks to the mish-mash of components.
"Steve [Jobs] came to the conclusion that the only way for Apple to really differentiate and deliver something truly unique and truly great, you have to own your own silicon," Srouji said. "You have to control and own it."
Srouji -- himself an Israeli and a graduate of the famous Technion -- was brought in from Intel to build Apple's processor team by then-hardware chief Bob Mansfield, and now sits at the crossroads of the company's mobile ambitions. His group occupies a space in the critical path for nearly every part of the development process, from industrial design to software.
To make it work, Apple operates a smattering of secret, unmarked laboratories around Silicon Valley. In some, custom Mac Minis stress test new chip designs to ferret out any weaknesses; others are de facto datacenters where next-generation chips are made available for software teams to test against.
This expansive setup illustrates Apple's commitment to being best in class, but Srouji stresses that it's not always enough to throw money at the problem.
"I run it very tight," Srouji said when asked about the team's budget. "I truly believe that engineers will do their best when they are constrained by either money, tools, or resources. If you become sloppy because you have too much money, that's the wrong mindset."
Srouji in one of Apple's chip testing centers, via Bloomberg
"The airplane was taking off, and I was building the runway just in time," Apple SVP of Hardware Technologies Jojny Srouji said of his group's efforts to get the A4 -- Apple's first in-house mobile CPU -- ready to ship in the iPhone 4. That sentence is emblematic of the team's mission to push the silicon envelope, shown in detail for the first time by Bloomberg.
Srouji's reports number in the hundreds, mostly split between Apple's Cupertino headquarters and research and development facilities in Israel. A-series chips are the group's primary focus, but Srouji hints that everything from new battery technology to in-house Wi-Fi modems could be part of its portfolio.
Apple's mobile silicon ambitions extend back as far as 2007, when the original iPhone shipped with numerous technical limitations thanks to the mish-mash of components.
"Steve [Jobs] came to the conclusion that the only way for Apple to really differentiate and deliver something truly unique and truly great, you have to own your own silicon," Srouji said. "You have to control and own it."
The iPad Pro was initially slated to ship last spring with the A8X, and only gained the more powerful A9X after delays in other parts of the project.
Srouji -- himself an Israeli and a graduate of the famous Technion -- was brought in from Intel to build Apple's processor team by then-hardware chief Bob Mansfield, and now sits at the crossroads of the company's mobile ambitions. His group occupies a space in the critical path for nearly every part of the development process, from industrial design to software.
To make it work, Apple operates a smattering of secret, unmarked laboratories around Silicon Valley. In some, custom Mac Minis stress test new chip designs to ferret out any weaknesses; others are de facto datacenters where next-generation chips are made available for software teams to test against.
This expansive setup illustrates Apple's commitment to being best in class, but Srouji stresses that it's not always enough to throw money at the problem.
"I run it very tight," Srouji said when asked about the team's budget. "I truly believe that engineers will do their best when they are constrained by either money, tools, or resources. If you become sloppy because you have too much money, that's the wrong mindset."
Comments
1) I'm a little surprised by this. Not that I don't believe that Jobs always wanted and knew that controlling the the HW and SW was key to truly great products, but I would have assumed it was other employees that would have finally done the convincing for ARM and PA Semi.
2) Wishful thinking or is this another piece of the puzzle that Apple will eventually support ARM on their desktop OS?
Oh I'm sure the media and Wall Street will read all kinds of things into this profile. Some are already convinced Apple is working on an ARM Mac this will just convince them even more.
"Samsung has the best processor"? I guess it has the better list of specs? It certainly didn't show it where it matters in real life use.
2. It really depends upon Intel or possibly AMD at this point. If these guys can't deliver the low power / high performance chips required eventually Apple will have no choice but to do their own silicon for the Macs. Both Intel and AMD have screwed up badly in the last couple of years so who knows. By the way Apple could go i86 in a custom chip.
As far as being power constrained, everything Apple markets is power constrained. This isn't always a good thing but the reality is lower power Intel products has allowed Apple to innovate with respect to platform size. Sometimes Apple shrinks products too fast thus impacting performance.
Totally unrelated but this new forums software sucks. I mean it really SUCKS. Did the AI staff even try this crap out before the conversion?
I'm sure Apple has their reasons, but why reward them and their slime factory with clicks?
IBM knew that!
Today there are still examples of inferior products where the SW and HDW aren't in tune.
If they sold that laptop that lasted for example 12h for $100-$150 less (since their part would be cheaper) and was more power running native apps than the comparable Intel machine; there would be takers.
Wouldn't take much to transform the Ipad pro into a laptop and I'm sure they've done it somewhere.
I got the feeling this is coming quite soon, possibly 2017 with say a tricore A10X variant on 10nm silicon.
By that time, the difference in performance with Intel in the thermal envelope will skew in Apple's favor.
Have you seen AnandTech's review of the iPad Pro? Now compare that to the performance and TDP of the 12" MacBook which uses a very expensive Intel processor, and is expensive notebook for its capabilities, as well.
Apple had a Mac that run on Intel well before the switch to them.
I'm with you, sooner or later Apple will leave Intel to go all in house A processors.
Because you have to get your enemy closer.