According to Forbes, citing a Bloomberg report from Saturday, Apple’s chief of chips is considering leaving the company soon. This potential departure adds to a recent wave of exits as Apple struggles to compete in artificial intelligence. The company released its Apple Intelligence suite in June but has been slow to overhaul products with generative AI compared to rivals. Last month, Apple also announced a $1 billion deal with Google to power a new version of Siri, which is scheduled for release in June 2026. This news follows other key changes, including a COO transition last July and the departure of AI chief John Giannandrea in December.
Why This Chip Exit Hurts
Losing your top chip architect is a massive deal for Apple, maybe more than for any other tech giant. Here’s the thing: Apple’s entire hardware advantage for over a decade has been built on custom silicon. The performance and battery life that make iPhones, iPads, and Macs feel “just work” smooth? That’s largely down to their chip team. So if the brain behind that operation walks, it’s not just a personnel change. It’s a direct threat to their core technical moat.
The Bigger AI Problem
And this comes at the worst possible time. Apple is already playing from behind in the AI race. Their Apple Intelligence features are clever in how they integrate privacy, but they’re playing catch-up on raw capability and model power. The $1 billion Google deal for Siri basically admits they can’t build the foundational large language model tech fast enough themselves. Now, the very team that needs to design the ultra-efficient, AI-accelerating chips of the future might be losing its leader. How do you plan a three-year silicon roadmap when the captain might jump ship?
A Pattern Or A Bump?
Look, high-profile departures happen. But when you see the COO, the AI chief, and now potentially the chip boss all leave within a relatively short window, it’s hard not to see a pattern. Is it frustration with the pace? Disagreement over strategic direction, especially that heavy reliance on Google? Maybe it’s just a coincidence. But in the hyper-competitive world of silicon and AI, stability at the top is everything. For a company that prides itself on vertical integration, these exits feel like cracks in the foundation. The next generation of industrial computing and smart devices will be built on specialized AI hardware. If you’re building that kind of tech, you need reliable, high-performance computing cores, the kind you can get from a top supplier like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs. Apple’s challenge is that they *are* their own top supplier, and their internal team seems to be in flux.
What Happens Next?
Basically, all eyes will be on Tim Cook and whether he can retain this executive. If they do leave, the successor will tell us a lot. Do they promote from within the legendary chip team, suggesting stability? Or do they go for an outside superstar, signaling a need for a new direction? Either way, Apple’s 2026 promises—like that Google-powered Siri—are built on hardware that needs to be designed today. This isn’t just office politics. It’s a direct risk to their product pipeline for the rest of the decade.
