Srouji, a former Intel engineer and IBM executive, has been leading Apple’s chip manufacturing efforts since 2015. Of course, he was also called upon to lead the development of the M1. “He likes his cars like his brands,” Srouji told the Wall Street Journal. “Fast and furious.” Apple Silicon offers tracks with each new iteration and while proving to be a fierce market candidate, it is disciplined and energy efficient. Apple Semiconductor has embarked on a dangerous project to replace Intel processors that powered Apple laptops and desktops for 15 years with internally designed chips. These M1 chips, which are much more energy efficient than Intel, have allowed Macs to run much faster and generate less heat, laying the groundwork for a resurgence in Apple’s line of computers. The company has now acquired control of a substantial component, as supply chain disruptions are disrupting the rest of the chip market. But the development and timely release of the M1 chip was not without problems. The biggest one came in the fall of 2020, as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced remote work orders in the US, as Apple entered the final validation phase of its chip designs before they went into production. Delaying the progress of new chips was not an option. So Mr. Srouji worked to design a new on-the-fly testing process. The team set up cameras in all laboratories so that engineers could inspect the chips remotely, said people familiar with the work. It was the kind of change that would once be hard to imagine from Apple, where privacy and control are paramount. Mr. Srouji’s team, which was already spread all over the world and used to work on video calls and time zones, was able to acclimatize well to the new methodology. Apple’s M1 chip has evolved significantly since its debut. The M1 Pro and M1 Max chips that power Apple’s MacBook Pro 2021 far exceed the base M1 by 2020, while the Mac mini recently released with the M1 Ultra brings unprecedented levels of horsepower. Apple Silicon has even been praised by the chip maker itself for being designed to replace it. “They did a very good job,” said Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger last fall. Now, Apple is reportedly testing the next generation Apple Silicon for Mac, tentatively known as the M2, on nine Mac models. However, Srouji was as strict as ever about what the future holds for Apple Silicon. “I’m not going to talk about any of that,” he said with a laugh when asked if the company had developed its own silicon for its long-awaited stand-alone car project.
