Reporting by XinZhiyuan
Edit: David
【New Zhiyuan Guide】Apple's self-developed chip has lost a fierce general! Jeff Wilcox, director of M1 chip design, officially announced that he has left Apple and returned to Intel as the CTO of the design engineering team, presiding over the development of the client SoC. Wilcox, with 25 years of experience in chip development, joined Apple since Intel in 2013 and has worked for Apple for more than 8 years.
Apple's self-developed chip has lost another cadre!
At a time when Apple gradually got rid of Intel chips, self-developed M1 chips were booming, and the industry and the industry were praised continuously, Jeff Wilcox, head of Apple's M1 chip development team, officially left Apple and returned to Intel.
Wilcox joined Apple from Intel in 2013, and this return to Intel may be related to the latter's intention to launch a new processor.
Last December, Wilcox announced that he was leaving Apple and returning to Intel, but did not specify what position he would hold at Intel.
"After an amazing eight years, I decided to leave Apple and seek another opportunity." Wilcox wrote on LinkedIn.
"The last eight years have been an incredible journey, and I'm incredibly proud of all what I've accomplished at Apple, where we've successfully developed the M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max SOC to take Apple Silicon's transition to new heights. I miss all my colleagues and friends at Apple."
Yesterday, he posted another feed on LinkedIn, revealing his position at Intel.
"I am pleased to announce that I am starting my new role as Intel Fellow, Chief Technology Officer of the Design Engineering Team, and SoC Architect of Intel Corporation Clients, and I am excited to once again work with an amazing team to develop a breakthrough SOC. Great things lie ahead!"
It's unclear who Apple intends to take over as director of system architecture for Mac.
It's also unclear whether Apple retained the eight-year-old employee. Recently, in order to slow the trend of employee job hopping, Apple issued a bonus of up to $180,000 to some engineers.
Prior to leaving Apple, as Director of Mac System Architecture, Wilcox oversaw and guided Apple's transition from Intel chips to its own, leading and participating in the development of all system architecture, signal integrity, and power integrity for Mac systems.
Starting with the M1 chip, he led the transition from all Macs to Apple Silicon, and before that developed the SoC and system architecture of the T2 coprocessor.
25 years chip veteran, served at Intel for 12 years
According to public information on LinkedIn, Jeff Wilcox has been engaged in chip development for nearly 25 years, and has worked for giants such as Intel, Nvidia, and Apple, and his work content is related to chip and architecture research and development.
Wilcox has been with Intel for nearly 13 years. He was The Chief Component Architect from 1997 to 2007 and the Chief Architect of the Client PC Chipset from 2010 to 2013.
In November 2013, he joined Apple and led the development team for Mac system architecture for another 8 years. During this time, he "led the transition from the Mac to apple chips, and also developed the SoC and system architecture for the T2 coprocessor used in intel Macs."
At present, Apple's chip team is led by Johny Srouji, Apple's vice president of hardware technology, and it is unclear whether Wilcox's departure will have much impact on the future development of Apple chips.
Apple's chip transition is well underway, with new Mac Pro and iMac Pro expected to launch using Apple chips in 2022.
Apple's brain drain continues
For Apple, in addition to the chip field, the company's brain drain has also impacted other areas, especially the self-driving car team.
Doug Field, the top director of the division who rejoined Apple in 2018 and was entrusted with a heavy responsibility, jumped ship to Ford, becoming the fourth executive to leave the company this year.
In 2021, three executives in Apple's self-driving car division have already left in just half a year, namely Dave Scott, Jaime Waydo and Benjamin Lyon.
Dave Scott led apple car-related robotics research teams and is now CEO of Hyperfine, a healthcare company that develops next-generation MRI systems.
Jaime Waydo, head of the autonomous vehicle safety and regulation team, announced his departure in February to become chief technology officer at startup Cavnue, which focuses on ensuring the safety of autonomous vehicles on public roads.
That same month, rocket startup Astra announced that Benjamin Lyon, a senior executive at Apple's self-driving cars, will join Astra as chief engineer.
In the face of continuous poaching of employees and the continuous departure of technical backbones, Apple recently issued an additional bonus to some engineers, up to $180,000, which was mainly obtained by engineers in chip design, hardware and some software and operation departments.
The prize money will be paid out over four years in the form of restricted stock, ranging from $50,000 to $180,000. Most of those engineers received about $80,000, $100,000, or $120,000 in stock. The higher ones are almost equivalent to the stocks that some managers can get in a year.
However, for Jeff Wilcox, who has been in the chip field for more than 20 years, it is estimated that the reason for the departure may have little to do with money.
Resources:
https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/01/06/apple-loses-lead-apple-silicon-designer-jeff-wilcox-to-intel
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/01/apple-loses-a-key-mac-silicon-executive-to-intel-amidst-m1-transition/
https://www.windowscentral.com/former-apple-director-rejoins-intel-make-groundbreaking-chips
https://www.macrumors.com/2022/01/06/m1-mac-engineer-departs-apple-intel/