Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
semianalysis.substack.com
Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
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Re: Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
#2There's a lot of claims of poached talent in the article, basically claiming [paraphrasing] "Apple, maintaining their stressful work env and not paying to shore that up lost some rockstars"
How true is this? If they're on the money it's an excellent example of a talent retention miss leading to a demonstrable mediocrity in delivery.
Re: Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
#3There's a lot of claims of poached talent in the article, basically claiming [paraphrasing] "Apple, maintaining their stressful work env and not paying to shore that up lost some rockstars" How true is this? If they're on the money it's an excellent example of a talent retention miss leading to a demonstrable mediocrity in delivery.
I suspect we're looking at Apple implementing tick/tock, whether because they're forced to or because they want to - they've already been doing something similar on the iPhones, and supply constraint may make them do it on the chips, too.
Few people are going to upgrade from the M1 to the M2 anyway, so it makes sense to keep powder dry for the M3.
Re: Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
#4> The bleeding hasn’t stopped in recent years as Apple’s work culture simply isn’t the best and other firms, namely the hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, are paying more than Apple was to poach talent.
I really hate that word “poach”. Using “attract” works much better in that sentence.
I find it appalling how entering into a free contract with someone to give them more money for their work is called “poaching”.
Words matter, and how we describe something has an impact in how it is viewed (“piracy” is another example).
Re: Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
#5There's a lot of claims of poached talent in the article, basically claiming [paraphrasing] "Apple, maintaining their stressful work env and not paying to shore that up lost some rockstars" How true is this? If they're on the money it's an excellent example of a talent retention miss leading to a demonstrable mediocrity in delivery.
The youngest, strongest RTL engineer I know jumped from Apple to Rivos.
Re: Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
#6> The bleeding hasn’t stopped in recent years as Apple’s work culture simply isn’t the best and other firms, namely the hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, are paying more than Apple was to poach talent. I really hate that word “poach”. Using “attract” works much better in that sentence. I find it appalling how entering into a free contract with someone to give them more money for their work is…
Seems like quibbling over words that everybody understands the meaning and intention of
Re: Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
#7There's a lot of claims of poached talent in the article, basically claiming [paraphrasing] "Apple, maintaining their stressful work env and not paying to shore that up lost some rockstars" How true is this? If they're on the money it's an excellent example of a talent retention miss leading to a demonstrable mediocrity in delivery.
Looking at another article from the same author[0], we'll have a pretty solid answer to the impact in September with the release of the A16. Apparently the A15 had very minimal CPU gains clock-for-clock over the A14.
To quote from that article:
"SemiAnalysis believes that the next generation core was delayed out of 2021 into 2022 due to CPU engineer resource problems. In 2019, Nuvia was founded and later acquired by Qualcomm for $1.4B. Apple’s Chief CPU Architect, Gerard Williams, as well as over a 100 other Apple engineers left to join this firm. More recently, SemiAnalysis broke the news about Rivos Inc, a new high performance RISC V startup which includes many senior Apple engineers. The brain drain continues and impacts will be more apparent as time moves on. As Apple once drained resources out of Intel and others through the industry, the reverse seems to be happening now."
I was very optimistic on Apple on the CPU front until I read this today. Now I'm waiting to see how the A16 pans out for them to see if it's a two generation loss of progress, or just a single generation stumble.
0: https://semianalysis.substack.com/p/apple-cpu-gains-grind-to...
Re: Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
#8> The bleeding hasn’t stopped in recent years as Apple’s work culture simply isn’t the best and other firms, namely the hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, are paying more than Apple was to poach talent. I really hate that word “poach”. Using “attract” works much better in that sentence. I find it appalling how entering into a free contract with someone to give them more money for their work is…
So what is it? Work culture or pay?
How many really move from Apple to Amazon for the work culture?
Re: Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
#9> The bleeding hasn’t stopped in recent years as Apple’s work culture simply isn’t the best and other firms, namely the hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, are paying more than Apple was to poach talent. I really hate that word “poach”. Using “attract” works much better in that sentence. I find it appalling how entering into a free contract with someone to give them more money for their work is…
It’s corporate America. “Performance improvement plans” and “at will states” are also part of the same lexicon. (Judge that as you will.)
On poaching though, Apple could choose to respond to the market signal by improving their work culture and policies to retain talent. I do wonder about the supply for these highly skilled hardware engineers though.
Re: Apple M2 Die Shot and Architecture Analysis – Big Cost Increase and A15 Based IP
#10> The bleeding hasn’t stopped in recent years as Apple’s work culture simply isn’t the best and other firms, namely the hyperscalers such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta, are paying more than Apple was to poach talent. I really hate that word “poach”. Using “attract” works much better in that sentence. I find it appalling how entering into a free contract with someone to give them more money for their work is…
Seems like quibbling over words that everybody understands the meaning and intention of
Words matter. Apple failed to retain these employees with cash, its not some hunting game where you catch some unsuspecting engineer