Apple has hired a key designer from ARM, suggesting the company could be on its way to switching to ARM processors on the Mac in the coming years.
Mike Filippo joined Apple’s chip architecture team in May in Texas, according to his LinkedIn profile.
ARM also confirmed that Filippo has departed from the company.
Prior to his appointment at Apple, Filippo worked at ARM for more than ten years, where he worked in positions such as Lead CPU Architect and Lead System Architect. Before he joined ARM, he worked at AMD and Intel.
Anshel Sag broke the news on Twitter, and whilst Filippo’s LinkedIn profile would suggest he still held his position at ARM too, the company confirmed to Bloomberg that he has since left ARM.
Apple didn’t comment on the hire, but it rarely does unless it’s picking up a high-profile hire from another company.
“Mike was a long-time valuable member of the ARM community,” a spokesman for ARM said. “We appreciate all of his efforts and wish him well in his next endeavour.”
Apple is reportedly in the process of moving its entire Mac line to ARM processors to reduce its reliance on Intel.
The company is expected to build upon the success of its custom-designed A chips for the iPhone and iPad which have been incredibly successful and allowed Apple to build the right hardware for its software, and vice versa.
According to reports, Intel expects Apple to start switching to ARM processors by 2020, and Ming-Chi Kuo’s own timetable reflects this date.
Are you excited about ARM Macs? Let us know on Twitter using @AppleMagazine, and check back soon for more news and rumors on Apple as and when we get it.
