Apple Chip Expert Leaves Company to Join Samsung

[MacRumors]

A chip expert who worked for Apple for nine years has left the company to join rival Samsung, Business Korea reports.

Kim Woo-Pyeong, according to the report, worked for Apple since 2014 after working for Texas Instruments and Qualcomm in prior years. The report is vague on what Kim's responsibilities were at Apple, only saying he was a semiconductor expert.

Apple uses a wide range of chips in its devices, from ultrawideband chip technology to the processors that power all of its devices and a custom-made 5G modem that is reportedly in the works.

At Samsung, Kim will be the company's director for a new packaging solution center. In the last couple of years, Samsung has upped its involvement in the semiconductor space amid increased competition from TSMC, Apple, and others. Samsung announced last month that it had started production of 3nm chips using a new transistor architecture.

Competition between Apple and Samsung remains fierce, with both companies continuing to compete for customers in smartphones, smartwatches, and accessories such as the AirPods and Galaxy Buds. Business Korea calls Samsung's latest hire from Apple "somewhat unusual" given the cooperative yet competitive relationship between the two companies. Despite their rivalry, Samsung and Apple work together, most notably for OLED displays.

Article Link: Apple Chip Expert Leaves Company to Join Samsung

 

[calstanford]

Apple has almost 160,000 employees.

Apple now has almost 159,999 employees.

 

[steve09090]

Just the usual swapping and changing of staff. Nothing special about this. It happens in every industry.

 

[seanmills1020]

From now on, Apple will only hire semiconductor experts whose first name is Chip.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I thought it was going to be Johny Srouji, phew.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

I thought it was going to be Johny Srouji, phew.

Funny you say that, he was my first thought too.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

From now on, Apple will only hire semiconductor experts whose first name is Chip.

Mind explaining the joke ?

 

[gsmornot]

Dude got bored and wanted to move on to what sounds like a step up. Good for him.

 

[Captain Trips]

Mind explaining the joke ?

Semiconductor chips. Chip is/was a common, general, term for physical things like memory, CPU, GPU and so on.

Plus chip is in the article title as well...

 

[BootsWalking]

Just don't let the inventor of rounded corners leave, otherwise Apple will really be in a pickle.

 

[hagar]

Fascinating: Employee changes job.
In other news: the sky is blue.

 

[ian87w]

As long as Srouji is still in, probably just regular turnover of employees. When Srouji leaves, now that's time to panic. Not discounting the work of this employee, but when the big guy goes, that's a really bad sign.

Like the AI guy. It forced Apple to rethink their HR strategy.

 

[tridley68]

Hopefully he's not able to use Apples knowledge and secrets on San scum devices.

 

[ponzicoinbro]

He’s Korean. He’s just going back to hang with the homies because they need someone who speaks the language. It’s that simple.

 

[George Dawes]

They’ll probably replace him with an ai robot

Chip design - as jezza would say - how hard can it be ?

 

[OnlyADuck]

Just don't let the inventor of rounded corners leave, otherwise Apple will really be in a pickle.

He already has.

 

[seanmills1020]

Mind explaining the joke ?

It’s not that funny.

 

[falkon-engine]

Hopefully he's not able to use Apples knowledge and secrets on San scum devices.

Why do you call them ‘scum’ when if you’re using a modern apple phone with OLeD, you’re likely to have a Samsung display ?

 

[CornBeef4]

Hopefully he's not able to use Apples knowledge and secrets on San scum devices.

Cringe. Apple has been copying Samsung since 2017. Wake up sheeple

 

[antiprotest]

Apple has almost 160,000 employees.

Apple now has almost 159,999 employees.

That's of course very misleading. Losing a random retail worker vs a CPO or something is vastly different.

But yes, in this case it's nothing super significant.

 

[BootsWalking]

He already has.

It wasn't Jony Ive if that's who you meant - patent has a long list of inventors, of which Jony is only one and not top-billed.

US Design Patent

 

[krspkbl]

Why do you call them ‘scum’ when if you’re using a modern apple phone with OLeD, you’re likely to have a Samsung display ?

not only using an iPhone with one of their components but Samsung is used in a lot of products (obviously). I get if someone wants to be an Apple Fanboy that's their life but it's quite pathetic and if you try avoid using any Samsung product then that's gonna take a lot of effort. It's sad honestly how some people are.

 

[GadgetBen]

“At Samsung, Kim will be the company's director for a new packaging solution center”

Either this is a guise job title or Kim wasn’t exactly a chip ‘expert’.

 

[jz0309]

making a story out of nothing, of everything ... normal turnover

 

[IIGS User]

The Aldrich Ames of computer chips.

I'll just stash my M-3 Ultra designs right here.....