It’s a rare interview, but it’s a cool one.
Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Technologies, Johny Srouji, met with the Wall Street Journal to discuss developing the Apple Silicon hardware alongside the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Srouji joined Apple in 2008 and was tasked with leading the development of chips for the iPhone. In 2015, he joined the company’s leadership, and reported directly to CEO Tim Cook. As Srouji’s work leading teams responsible for building Apple’s chips began to grow, managers began to take notice.
At the start of the pandemic, Srouji led a team of around 45 engineers. Today, that team has grown to thousands across the globe. He stated that the global health crisis required his team to be adaptive and flexible should things not always go to plan.
During the early stages of COVID-19, Apple was preparing to validate the M1 chip, which would be the first Apple Silicon chip for Mac. This process, which generally involved engineers painstakingly inspecting chips, transistors, and every other component, now had to be done remotely by setting up cameras throughout the labs.
It was a surprise move for Apple, who normally worships its privacy and control.
The process was also made more challenging given that the team was building an array of chips that could be tailored to the widest range of Mac products possible. The team needed to develop a chip that could go with the lowest-end MacBook Air to the highest-end Mac Pro.
Srouji also stated that his team ended to determine whether it could deliver and execute while also ramping up the ability to handle more product. The team also had to predict where technological trends were heading and move with this.
Apple not only needs to stay on top concerning developing components for next-gen devices, but they also need to be able to produce millions of devices a year.
“I don’t do it once and call it a day,” Stated Srouji. “It is year after year after year. That’s a huge effort.”
Srouji provided no technical details as to Apple’s forthcoming next-gen chips.