Johnny Sruji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technology, recently sat down for an interview with The Wall Street Journal, talking about Apple Silicon and the development of what M1 called Apple’s “breakthrough SoC for Mac” at launch.
Sruji, a former Intel engineer and CEO of IBM, has led Apple’s chipmaking efforts since 2015. Naturally, he was also called upon to lead the development of the M1.
He likes his cars like his chips, Sruji told The Wall Street Journal: “Fast and Furious.” Apple Silicon is breaking through with each new iteration, and although it is a fierce competitor in the market, it is disciplined and efficient in energy consumption.
Apple’s semiconductor division has launched a risky project to replace Intel’s processors, which have powered Apple laptops and desktops for 15 years, with internally designed chips. These M1 chips, which are much more energy efficient than Intel’s, have allowed the Mac to run much faster and generate less heat, laying the groundwork for reviving Apple’s computer line. The company has already gained control of an essential component, just as supply chain disruptions are causing chaos in the rest of the chip market …
But the development and timely launch of the M1 chip was not without problems. The biggest came in the fall of 2020, as the start of the COVID-19 pandemic imposed remote work mandates in the United States just as Apple was entering the final phase of validating its chip designs before they went into production.
Delaying the progress of the new chips was not an option. So Mr. Srouji is working on designing a new testing process on the go. The team set up cameras in the labs so engineers could inspect the chips remotely, experts said. This was the change that Apple would have ever found difficult to imagine, where privacy and control are paramount.
Mr Srouji’s team, already scattered around the world and accustomed to working with video calls and time zones, has managed to adapt well to the new methodology.
Apple’s M1 chip has evolved significantly since its debut. The M1 Pro and M1 Max, which power Apple’s 201 MacBook Pro, cleverly outperform the 2020 M1 base, while the recently launched M1 Ultra mini brings unprecedented horsepower levels.
Apple Silicon was even praised by the manufacturer of the chips themselves, which was designed to replace. “They did a pretty good job,” said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger last fall.
It is reported that Apple is now testing the next generation Apple Silicon for Mac, known as the M2, on nine Mac models.
However, Srouji was as tight as ever about what the future holds for Apple Silicon. “I’m not going to talk about any of this,” he said, laughing when asked if the company had developed its own silicon for its long-awaited autonomous car project.
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