Apple Silicon and Machine Learning – Monday Note

When Apple introduced its 64-bit A7 processor in September, 2013, they caught the industry by surprise. According to an ex-Intel gent who's now at a long-established Sand Hill Road venture firm, the competitive analysis group at the imperial x86 maker had no idea Apple was cooking a 64-bit chip. As I recounted in a September 2013 Monday Note titled 64 bits. And We'll Have It In 6 Months, competitors and Intel stenographers initially dismissed the new chip. They were in for a shock: Not only did the company jump to the head of the race for powerful mobile chips, but Apple also used its combined control of hardware and software to build what Warren Buffett refers to as a wide "wide moat": The industry came to accept the idea Apple has one of the best, if not the best, silicon design team; the company just hired Esin Terzioglu, who oversaw the engineering organization of Qualcomm's core communications chips business.