Apple Promotes Chip Chief Srouji Amidst Silicon Dominance in iPhones and Macs

In naming hardware chief John Ternus as its new Chief Executive Officer on Monday, Apple also announced another pivotal promotion that signals the company’s strategic direction. Taking over Ternus’s former role as head of hardware is Johny Srouji, who leads Apple’s formidable in-house chip development team. Apple has created a new title for Srouji, Chief Hardware Engineer, effective immediately. Ternus will officially assume the CEO position on September 1st.

This leadership pairing of Ternus and Srouji positions Apple strongly as it accelerates its years-long strategy of developing all of its core silicon for iPhones, Macs, AirPods, and beyond. This vertical integration allows Apple to achieve a deep synergy between hardware and software, enabling the creation of bespoke features while optimizing computational power, a strategy Srouji and Ternus detailed in a prior discussion.

“Because we’re not really selling chips externally, our sole focus is on the product, which grants us unparalleled freedom to optimize,” Srouji explained at the time. “Our scalable architecture further allows for efficient reuse of components across different product lines.”

Srouji’s continued leadership, underscored by his new role, highlights Apple’s unwavering commitment to its silicon strategy, which is poised for even greater importance as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly integral to device functionality. Under his tenure, Apple has significantly expanded its custom chip development, reducing its reliance on external suppliers such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Broadcom.

While Ternus had long been considered the likely successor to outgoing CEO Tim Cook, the retention and elevated role of Srouji is being viewed by many industry analysts as an equally critical strategic move. Oppenheimer analysts noted in a report that “putting Srouji in the newly created Chief Hardware Officer role is the most incrementally positive announcement from Apple. Apple not only retains one of the world’s premier chip designers but also ensures its integrated silicon/hardware/software playbook is preserved and enhanced.”

Srouji, who joined Apple in 2008 following his tenures at Intel and IBM, has been instrumental in the company’s silicon journey. His arrival came less than a year after the debut of the first iPhone, which utilized a core processor sourced from Samsung. Apple’s strategic acquisition of chip startup P.A. Semiconductor for $278 million shortly after Srouji’s joining signaled its ambitious pivot towards in-house chip design.

The launch of Apple’s first custom iPhone processors in 2010 marked the beginning of a significant trend in the technology sector. Custom silicon development is now a key strategic imperative for major tech players like Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla, as they seek to reduce their dependence on graphics processing units (GPUs) from providers like Nvidia, particularly for AI workloads. While Apple’s cloud AI models currently leverage Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs), its focus remains on optimizing on-device AI capabilities.

In a 2023 interview, Ternus reflected on the most profound change at Apple during his two decades with the company: “how we now do so many of those technologies in house, and top of the list of course is our silicon.” He elaborated, “We’ve always had an incredible design team and we made these beautiful products, but they were constrained by what was available.”

A significant aspect of Apple’s supply chain evolution under Cook’s leadership has been the strategic effort to onshore production. While major tech companies primarily rely on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) for chip fabrication, including its new facilities in Arizona, Apple has recently become TSMC’s largest customer, surpassing even Nvidia in this regard. Apple is also making substantial commitments to manufacturing at TSMC’s Arizona campus and at Texas Instruments’ new U.S. factories.

As part of a $600 billion U.S. investment commitment through 2029, Apple announced in August its leadership in establishing an “end-to-end silicon supply chain in the United States.” Apple executives revealed in 2023 that its chip division has grown to comprise thousands of engineers working across global research and development centers in locations such as Israel, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the United States.

While Apple has not yet developed chips for large-scale cloud-based AI workloads, some analysts predict a potential partnership with Broadcom for a server chip as early as this year. To date, Apple’s AI strategy has predominantly focused on on-device capabilities, a deliberate approach aimed at providing users with superior security and privacy for their data. Ben Bajarin, CEO of Creative Strategies, stated, “Their goal is to continue to be the best place to run AI software, and everybody who tests or runs AI stuff on Apple silicon continues to say they’re the best.”

Apple’s flagship in-house chips include the M-series processors for Macs, which replaced Intel processors starting in 2020, and the A-series chips powering iPhones. Both are advanced systems-on-a-chip (SoCs). The latest A19 and M5 generations, unveiled in 2025, feature integrated neural accelerators specifically designed to enhance on-device AI performance. Srouji emphasized in 2023 that Apple’s advantage in AI stems from its holistic approach: “we own the silicon, the hardware, the software, the machine learning all in one team.”

The company integrates neural accelerators into each GPU core, enabling developers to seamlessly switch between diverse computational tasks. Apple first introduced its dedicated neural engine for AI in 2017. In the realm of modems, Apple began its transition away from Qualcomm in 2019, following its $1 billion acquisition of the majority of Intel’s modem business and a resolution of patent disputes with Qualcomm. Apple quietly launched its first proprietary iPhone modem, the C1, in early 2025, and subsequently introduced the C1X in the iPhone 19 in September. Bajarin anticipates that Apple will be producing all iPhone modems in-house by the end of next year, adding, “If they never catch up to Qualcomm in performance, I don’t think that’s a deal-breaker even on Pro phones. I think it just needs to work well for your coverage area, be fast enough and not kill your battery.”

In September, Apple also launched its in-house wireless chip for the iPhone, the N1, marking a departure from its reliance on Broadcom. For nearly a decade, Apple has been manufacturing its own networking chips for AirPods and Apple Watches.

Despite this increasing self-sufficiency, Apple will continue to depend on external partners for a range of specialized components. The company licenses the architecture for its core processors from Arm Holdings and sources other technologies from Broadcom and Qualcomm. Furthermore, it relies on memory solutions from Samsung and analog chips from manufacturers like Texas Instruments.

In an internal email to employees on Monday, Srouji announced his plan to consolidate all hardware development under a unified structure, moving away from the previous division between engineering and technology departments. He outlined a reorganized hardware division comprising five key teams: hardware engineering, silicon, advanced technologies, platform architecture, and project management. Tim Millet, who has been appointed to lead platform architecture, emphasized the significance of in-house chips in a September interview, stating that “where the magic is.” He further added, “When we have control, we are able to do things beyond what we can do by buying a merchant silicon part.”

These leadership transitions occur as Wall Street scrutinizes Apple’s AI strategy, particularly its emphasis on on-device AI over cloud-based solutions. The company’s stock performance this year has trailed most of its megacap peers, with the exception of Microsoft and Tesla. The 2023 interview with Ternus and Srouji took place in the wake of OpenAI’s ChatGPT release, which ignited the generative AI boom. When questioned about concerns that Apple was lagging in AI, Srouji confidently responded, “I don’t believe we are.” Ternus, with a notable chuckle, added, “not too worried.”