From Jony Ive to Johny Strouji: Apple iPhone and Mac chip designer set to leave for an AI company

Apple may be replacing Tim Cook with a more AI-verse CEO in 2026, but in the meantime its managerial talent is being poached by Meta and others.

After the departure of its lead designers, like Jony Ive or Alan Dye, as well as its AI chief and many others, it may now be time for the renowned Apple iPhone and Mac chip architecture head to pack. Apple's Senior VP of the hardware technologies department, Johny Srouji, has reportedly notified Tim Cook that he would be leaving Apple for another company.

Given that the hottest new trend in chip development is AI applications, it's not difficult to fathom where Srouji might be moving to next. His work on the Apple chip's renowned Neural Processing Unit subsystem could land him anywhere AI chip talent is needed.

China's Huawei founder recently expressed his surprise that the US approaches AI by pouring trillions into high-end hardware to solve pie-in-the-sky superintelligence issues it can't accurately define, instead of China's more pragmatic everyday AI approach.

The allure of developing artificial general intelligence is very tempting, though, and Apple's Srouji might be leaving not only for greener compensation pastures - something that Tim Cook can deliver - but also to accept new challenges rather than chase the annual iPhone or Mac chip performance bump announcements.

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