Apple hires ARM chip designer as it pivots towards makings its own

Macbook lineup
Macbook lineup (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple has hired chip designer Mike Filippo away from ARM.
  • He was the Lead CPU Architect and Lead System Architect at ARM for 10 years.
  • This continues Apple's push to incorperate ARM chips into the MacBook.

Apple has hired ARM chip design, Mike Filippo, to join its chip architecture team away from ARM as the company continues to set the stage for a jump from Intel to ARM processor.

Filippo joined Apple back in May according to his LinkedIn profile. He has previously worked at ARM as Lead CPU Architect and Lead System Architect for ten years. He will join Apple's chip team based in Texas. ARM confirmed Filippo's departure in a statement to Bloomberg.

Mike was a long-time valuable member of the ARM community. We appreciate all of his efforts and wish him well in his next endeavor.

Apple has not not kept it secret that it plans on migrating its MacBook line from Intel processors over to ARM chips. It also comes on the heals of it abandoning Intel's modems for Qualcomm's after it could not keep pace with the advent of 5G. To do so, it needs to manufacture is own in-house ARM chips, which it has been busy doing over the past few years.

It's unclear when exactly Apple plans to start introducing ARM chips into the Mac, but it could comes as soon as 2020.

Danny Zepeda
Latest in Apple Macbook
Stage Manager running Safari on a MacBook Air
Apple’s alleged 19-inch folding MacBook kicked further down the road – now arriving 2027 at the earliest
A headless macbook
I've just discovered headless MacBooks, now I'm so obsessed I might decapitate my own just to try it
MacBook deals
Grab a MacBook Air M1 for just $650 at Walmart in this incredible deal
M3 MacBook Pro review
How to build the ultimate MacBook setup — the perfect pick for every accessory
MacBook deals
Need a new MacBook for those big WWDC announcements? Get one at $150 off in this secret Apple sale at Best Buy
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7
M3 MacBook Air vs Surface Laptop 7: How does Microsoft's MacBook alternative stack up
Latest in News
iMore Logo
One more thing… Goodbye from iMore
Jony Ive
Jony Ive’s OpenAI hardware device could be his next world-changing design
NEBULA Cosmos 4K SE with Apple TV
This new 4K projector is tempting me to replace my LG C2 TV, just so I can watch Slow Horses on a 200-inch display
VisionOS 2 app reorganization
visionOS 2 is the first major software update for Apple Vision Pro, and now it's available
macOS Sequoia
macOS Sequoia (version 15) is now available for your Mac with some big upgrades
watchOS 11
watchOS 11 is now rolling out to all Apple Watch users with the Series 6 or newer