According to Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) and Bloomberg, Apple’s chip chief Johny Srouji has informed CEO Tim Cook that he is seriously considering leaving the company, with intentions to continue his career elsewhere rather than retire (source: Bloomberg, Dec 6, 2025). The potential departure of Srouji, a leader in Apple’s custom silicon initiative, could significantly impact Apple's AI hardware roadmap, especially as custom chips are central to AI performance and on-device machine learning. This move creates opportunities for other AI-focused tech companies to recruit top chip design talent, potentially accelerating innovation in AI hardware for smartphones, edge devices, and enterprise AI infrastructure. For businesses, this signals a shift in the competitive landscape for AI chip engineering and highlights the growing demand for expertise in AI-optimized hardware design.