Stuff I Stole From The Internet: Apple Reportedly Has 1,000 Engineers Working On Chips For Post-PC Products

Apple Reportedly Has 1,000 Engineers Working On Chips For Post-PC Products

Apple has more than a thousand engineers working on mobile processors, according to a "Veteran" Silicon Valley CEO who knew Steve Jobs personally. Characterized by their low power consumption and high performance, these chips are a vital part of the "Post-PC" future Apple is betting on.

Apple employees more than 50,000 people, out of which 30,000 work in retail. The thousand employees working on next generation chips amount to five percent of the company's non-retail staff.

The source in a conversation with TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld said:

"Steve Jobs told me he has 1,000 engineers working on chips. Getting low power and smaller is the key to everything."

Apple started building up its in-house chip design team after acquiring P. A. Semi in 2008, with an intention to produce chips that "help run increasingly sophisticated software on iPhones and iPods". Intel, Apple's longtime partner for processors on Macs and AMD were stuck in the post PC-era, which is another reason why Apple chose to get things done themselves.

Just earlier this month, DigiTimes reported that Apple's manufacturing partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) had sent a 60 member team to Apple to talk about upcoming A-series processors.

Another trend that Apple devices seem to be adopting - replacing traditional hard drives with flash memory. The Silicon Valley CEO says that when these two "Post-PC" trends are combined "form factor no longer becomes an issue".

Have you noticed how every new iteration of an Apple product delivers better performance, manages to maintain the same battery life (in some cases such as the iPhone 4S, Apple manages to improve battery life slightly)?

Apple has already said that it invested a huge amount of money a few years ago in flash based memory, foreseeing that it would be an important component in the future. During the Q1 2011 Earnings call, Apple's CFO Peter Oppenheimer noted that it has made a similar investment into one such component, not revealing what it was. While at that time, people speculated it could be touch screens (Retina displays), this piece of information can even mean that they were processors.

Makes sense right? Why would a team of 60 members from TSMC come all the way from Taiwan to Apple's offices in the U.S unless there's something big.

So what does all this mean for us? According to TechCrunch writer MG Siegler, he's been told that these post-PC products will blow our mind away.

[via TechCrunch]

Posted by Rounak on October 11, 2011 in Apple News | Permalink|Comments (10)

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jlluna said...

That’s Great news! That is why apple is so far ahead of everyone.I have been very happy with every product i have purchased from apple, and i see they just keep striving to be better.

October 11, 2011 at 11:30 AM Reply

Zolk said...

So, now that iphone4s is out, we have to report yet more rumours and unsubstantiated gossip on other Apple business?? Get more jailbreak/unlock/cydia apps info and tutorials already!

October 11, 2011 at 11:35 AM Reply

Vic said...

Since they dont have any real news… They dont have anything else to post. Im so happy all the BS this dudes posted about the inminent iPhone 5 didnt pan out. Left them right on the spot. Its all speculation and wishful thinking. Gotta tell you, every single day im a little bit less compelled to come back to this blog.

October 11, 2011 at 12:22 PM Reply

Look at experience said...

Goodbye

October 11, 2011 at 12:51 PM Reply

Jess said...

I agree with Zolk and Vic. This blog has become pretty lame. Their posts are hardly ever interesting and they are often late to report actual breaking news.

I used to dislike people complaining about exactly that, but the past few months, I have begun to see their point. This blog should not be called “iphonehacks”. It is misleading, considering how little they post actual jailbreak and cydia material. A better name would be “iphonegossip”.

October 11, 2011 at 3:58 PM Reply

iPhoneHacks said...

Apologies, we will try our best to do a better job, but you probably know by now that we cover more than just hacks and tweaks just like MacRumors, which covers more than just rumors.

We genuinely felt it was interesting to see how Apple has been thinking with its Post PC strategy and what we can expect from Apple in the future.

October 11, 2011 at 1:29 PM Reply

WritingForProfit said...

There’s no need to apologize. The new posts keep the content here fresh on a daily basis. Some sites I visit are off on the weekends, and two days without fresh content gets boring.

Besides, most of us just skip over articles that don’t interest us anyway. Keep up the great work!

October 11, 2011 at 3:50 PM Reply