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Apple Inc., long the model of stability in Silicon Valley, is suddenly undergoing its biggest personnel shake-up in decades, with senior executives and key engineers both hitting the exits.<\/p>\n
In just the past week, Apple\u2019s heads of\u00a0artificial intelligence\u00a0and\u00a0interface design\u00a0stepped down. Then the company\u00a0announced\u00a0that its general counsel and head of governmental affairs were leaving as well. All four executives have reported directly to Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, marking an exceptional level of turnover in Apple\u2019s C-suite.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And more changes are likely coming. Johny Srouji \u2014 senior vice president of hardware technologies and one of Apple\u2019s most respected executives \u2014 recently told Cook that he is seriously considering leaving in the near future, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Srouji, the architect of Apple\u2019s prized in-house chips effort, has informed colleagues that he intends to join another company if he ultimately departs.<\/p>\n
At the same time, AI talent has been fleeing for tech rivals \u2014 with Meta Platforms Inc., OpenAI and a variety of startups poaching many of Apple\u2019s engineers. That threatens to hamper the company\u2019s efforts to catch up in artificial intelligence, an area where it\u2019s struggled to make a mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It all adds up to one of the most tumultuous stretches of Cook\u2019s tenure. Though the CEO himself is\u00a0unlikely to leave imminently, the company has to rebuild its ranks and figure out how to thrive in the AI era.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Within the company, some of the departures are cause for deep concern \u2014 with Cook looking to stave off more with stronger compensation packages for key talent. In other cases, the exits just reflect the fact that veteran executives are nearing retirement age. Still, many of the shifts constitute a disconcerting brain drain.<\/p>\n
While Cook maintains that Apple is working on the most innovative product lineup in its history \u2014 a slate that\u2019s expected to include foldable iPhones and iPads, smart glasses, and robots \u2014 Apple hasn\u2019t launched a successful new product category in a decade. That leaves it vulnerable to poaching from a range of nimbler rivals better equipped to develop the next generation of devices around AI.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment.<\/p>\n
The exit of Apple\u2019s AI chief, John Giannandrea, followed a number of stumbles in generative AI. The company\u2019s Apple Intelligence platform has suffered from delays and subpar features. And a highly touted overhaul to the Siri voice assistant is roughly a year and a half behind schedule. Moreover, the software will\u00a0rely heavily\u00a0on a partnership with Alphabet Inc.\u2019s Google to fill the gaps in its capabilities.<\/p>\n
Against that backdrop, Apple began phasing Giannandrea out of his role in March but is allowing him to remain until next spring.<\/p>\n
Within Apple, employees have long expected Giannandrea to step aside \u2014 and some have expressed surprise that he\u2019s sticking around as long as he is.<\/p>\n
But parting ways with Giannandrea sooner would have been taken as public acknowledgment of a problem, people familiar with the situation said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Design veteran Alan Dye, meanwhile, is heading to Meta\u2019s Reality Labs unit \u2014 a remarkable defection to one of Apple\u2019s fiercest rivals.<\/p>\n
Within a day of that news, Apple turned around and announced that it had poached one of Meta\u2019s executives. Jennifer Newstead, chief legal officer at the social networking company, will become Apple\u2019s general counsel. She helped oversee Meta\u2019s successful antitrust battle with the US Federal Trade Commission \u2014 experience that\u2019s likely to prove useful in Apple\u2019s own legal fight with the Justice Department over alleged anticompetitive practices.<\/p>\n
Read More:\u00a0Apple Taps Meta Lawyer as General Counsel in Latest Shake-Up<\/p>\n
Newstead is taking over for Kate Adams, who served eight years in the role and will retire in late 2026. Lisa Jackson, vice president for environment, policy and social initiatives, is retiring as well \u2014 and her duties will be divided up among other executives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though the news of Adams\u2019 departure was jarring \u2014 especially considering the number of Apple legal disputes currently on her plate \u2014 she\u2019s had a fairly long tenure for a general counsel at the company.<\/p>\n
Jackson, meanwhile, was widely expected to be leaving soon. The former Obama administration official has kept a lower profile during President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, opting to dispatch deputies to handle discussions with the White House. Bloomberg News had\u00a0previously reportedthat she was considering retirement.<\/p>\n
These exits follow an even bigger departure. Jeff Williams, Cook\u2019s longtime No. 2, retired last month after a decade as chief operating officer. Another veteran leader, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri, stepped into a smaller role at the start of 2025 and is likely to retire in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n
The flurry of retirements reflects a demographic reality for Apple. Many of its most senior executives have been at the company for decades and are roughly the same age \u2014 either in their 60s or nearing it.<\/p>\n
Cook turned 65 last month, fueling speculation that he would join the exodus. People close to the executive have said that he\u2019s unlikely to leave soon, though succession planning has been underway for years. John Ternus, Apple\u2019s 50-year-old hardware engineering chief, is considered by employees to be the frontrunner CEO candidate.<\/p>\n
When Cook does step down, he\u2019s likely to shift into the chairman job and maintain a high level of influence over the iPhone maker. That makes it unlikely that Apple will select an outsider as the next CEO, even as executives like Nest Labs founder Tony Fadell are being pushed as candidates by people outside the company. Though Fadell helped invent Apple\u2019s iconic iPod, he left the tech giant 15 years ago on less-than-friendly terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For now, Cook remains active at Apple and travels extensively on behalf of the company. However, the executive does have an unexplained tremor that causes his hands to shake from time to time \u2014 something that\u2019s been discussed among Apple employees in recent months.<\/p>\n
The shaking has been noticed by both executives and rank-and-file staff during meetings and large company gatherings, according to people familiar with the matter. But people close to Cook say he is healthy and refute rumors to the contrary that have circulated in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n
Read More:\u00a0The Apple Insiders in the Running to Succeed Cook<\/p>\n
A more imminent risk is the departure of Srouji, the chip chief. Cook has been working aggressively to retain him \u2014 an effort that included offering a substantial pay package and the potential of more responsibility down the road. One scenario floated internally by some executives involves elevating him into the role of chief technology officer. Such a job \u2014 overseeing a wide swath of both hardware engineering and silicon technologies \u2014 would potentially make him Apple\u2019s second-most-powerful executive.<\/p>\n
But that change would likely require Ternus to be promoted to CEO, a step the company may not be ready to take. And some within Apple have said that Srouji would prefer not to work under a different CEO, even with an expanded title.<\/p>\n
If Srouji does depart, which isn\u2019t yet a certainty, the company would likely tap one of his two top lieutenants \u2014 Zongjian Chen or Sribalan Santhanam \u2014 to replace him.<\/p>\n
The recent shifts are already reshaping Apple\u2019s power structure. More authority is now flowing to a quartet of executives: Ternus, services chief Eddy Cue, software head Craig Federighi and new COO Sabih Khan. Apple\u2019s AI efforts have been redistributed across its leadership, with Federighi becoming the company\u2019s de facto AI chief.<\/p>\n
Ternus is also poised to take a starring role next year in the celebration of Apple\u2019s 50th anniversary, further raising his profile. And he\u2019s been given more responsibility over robotics and smart glasses \u2014 two areas seen as future growth drivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Further reorganization is likely. Deirdre O\u2019Brien, head of retail and human resources, has been with Apple for more than 35 years, while marketing chief Greg Joswiak has spent\u00a0four decades\u00a0at the company. Apple has elevated the key lieutenants under both executives, preparing for their eventual retirements.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Apple is contending with a talent drain in its engineering ranks. This has become a serious concern for the executive team, and Apple\u2019s human resources organization has been instructed to ramp up recruitment and retention efforts, people familiar with the situation said.<\/p>\n
Robby Walker, who had overseen Siri and an initiative to build a ChatGPT-like search experience, left the company in October. His replacement, Ke Yang, departed after only weeks in the job, joining Meta\u2019s new Superintelligence Labs.<\/p>\n
To help fill the void left by Giannandrea, Apple hired Google and Microsoft Corp. alum Amar Subramanya as vice president of artificial intelligence. He\u2019ll report to Federighi, the software chief.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s been a broader collapse within Apple\u2019s artificial intelligence organization, spurred by the departure of AI models chief Ruoming Pang. Pang, along with colleagues such as Tom Gunter and Frank Chu, went to Meta, which has used eye-popping compensation packages to lure talent.<\/p>\n
Roughly a dozen other top AI researchers have left the organization, which is suffering from low morale. The company\u2019s increasing use of external AI technology, such as Google\u2019s Gemini, has been a particular concern for employees working on large language models.<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s AI robotics software team has also seen widespread departures, including its leader Jian Zhang, who likewise joined Meta. That group is tasked with creating underlying technology for products such as a tabletop robot and a mobile bot.<\/p>\n
The hardware team for the tabletop device, code-named J595, has been bleeding talent too \u2014 with some headed to OpenAI. Dye also was a key figure overseeing that product\u2019s software design.<\/p>\n
Read More:\u00a0Apple\u2019s AI Push to Hinge on Robots, Security, Lifelike Siri<\/p>\n
The user interface organization has been hit as well, with several team members leaving between 2023 and this year. That attrition culminated in Dye\u2019s exit, which stemmed partly from a desire to integrate AI more deeply into products and a feeling that Apple hasn\u2019t been keeping pace in the area. Another top interface leader under Dye, Billy Sorrentino, also left for Meta.<\/p>\n
The hardware side of the design group \u2014 the team responsible for the physical look and feel of Apple\u2019s products \u2014 has been nearly wiped out over the last half-decade. Many staffers followed former design chief Jony Ive to his studio, LoveFrom, or went to other companies.<\/p>\n
Longtime interface designer Stephen Lemay is now stepping in as Dye\u2019s replacement. Cook is also taking on more responsibility for overseeing design, a role that had been held by Williams.<\/p>\n
Despite the turmoil, there\u2019s enthusiasm within Apple about Lemay taking Dye\u2019s old role. He\u2019s a well-liked designer who worked his way up the ranks over two decades.<\/p>\n
Ive, a visionary designer who helped create the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch, is now working with OpenAI to develop a new generation of AI-enhanced devices. That company\u00a0acquired\u00a0Ive\u2019s startup, io, for more than $6 billion to jump-start its hardware business \u2014 setting its sights on Apple\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n
Like Meta, OpenAI has become a key beneficiary of Apple\u2019s talent flight. The San Francisco-based company has hired dozens of Apple engineers across a wide range of fields, including people working on the iPhone, Mac, camera technology, silicon design, audio, watches and the Vision Pro headset.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a previously unreported development, the AI company is hiring Apple\u2019s Cheng Chen, a senior director in charge of display technologies. His purview included the optics that go into the Vision Pro headset. OpenAI\u00a0recruited\u00a0Tang Tan, one of Apple\u2019s top hardware engineering executives, two years ago.<\/p>\n
There have been other high-profile departures. Abidur Chowdhury, who narrated Apple\u2019s unveiling of the iPhone Air in September, left for an AI startup. He was an up-and-comer at Apple, and the move surprised colleagues.<\/p>\n
Read More:\u00a0Apple\u2019s Star Designer Who Introduced iPhone Air Leaves Company<\/p>\n
And over the summer, the company lost the dean of Apple University, the internal program designed to preserve the company\u2019s culture and practices after the passing of co-founder Steve Jobs. Richard Locke, who spent nearly three years at Apple, left to become dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u2019s business school.<\/p>\n
#Apple #rocked #executive #departures #chip #chief #risk #leaving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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