James Delahunty
29 Apr 2009 22:37
It has been reported that Apple Inc. is hiring new blood from the semiconductor industry in a bid to boost its chip design capabilities. The new employees will build Apple's capabilities to design its own chips which will both give Apple the ability to bring new features to its products and share fewer details about it plans with outside chip vendors.
A spokesman for Apple confirmed that it has hired both Bob Drebin and Raja Koduri. Both held the position of chief technology office of the graphics products group at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The hires were reported or rumored in a number of online outlets earlier in the week.
The company has been hiring engineers to create multifunction chips using in cell phones, but sources familiar with the matter say they don't expect internally designed chips to emerge until next year at the earliest. Apple acquired P.A. Semi last year. a designer of low-power microchips. Analysts said the move was to customize key parts for its iPhone, iPod and Macintosh products.