Photo by Grzegorz Walczak on Unsplash
According to a report, Samsung Electronics has poached a chip expert who worked at Apple for nine years.
Apple lost several vital chip experts earlier in the year. In January, Jeff Wilcox — an engineer behind M1 Mac processors — left the company to join Intel. Shortly after, Microsoft poached a second key Apple engineer, Mike Filippo, to work on custom chips for the company.
Reports suggest that another Apple chip expert, Kim Woo-Pyeong, is reportedly leaving the company to join Samsung.
Kim Woo-Pyeong studied at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). Upon completing his studies, Kim worked for Texas Instruments and Qualcomm before joining Apple in 2014.
Although his specific duties in the Cupertino-based company are unclear, he was one of the top semiconductor experts. In other words, Kim may have played a vital role in developing the wide range of chips on Apple devices — from the A series to the M series chips.
Now Kim Woo-Pyeong is leaving. According to Business Korea, Samsung hired the chip expert to run its newly-established Packaging Solution Center.
Hiring An Apple Chip Expert — an Unusual Appointment
Business Korea described Kim Woo-Pyeong’s appointment as “somewhat unusual” due to the special relationship between the two tech giants.
The competition between Samsung and Apple has been fierce for over a decade, and that’s understandable. Since both companies produce smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and headphones, they have to fight for the same buyers.
Despite their rivalry, Samsung and Apple have a symbiotic relationship.
For example, Samsung fabricated the A4 in the iPhone 4 and the A5 processors in the iPhone 4S. Although the company has moved on from manufacturing Apple chips, it still makes the OLED displays for iPhones.
According to the report, the last case of Samsung recruiting an Apple employee was ten years ago. In 2012, the company hired Luc Julia, the scientist who oversaw the development of Siri.
