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Apple Poaches Imagination Technologies COO and Graphics Engineers After Passing On Acquisition

Thursday October 13, 2016 10:02 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Earlier this year, it was reported Apple was in "advanced talks" to acquire British semiconductor designer Imagination Technologies, just one week after the chip maker announced job cuts. Apple subsequently confirmed the talks, but said it did not plan to make an offer to purchase the company at the time.

imagination-john-metcalfe
Nevertheless, over the past year, Apple has been recruiting talent away from the company, according to multiple LinkedIn profiles. Imagination Technologies COO John Metcalfe, for example, left the company in June and is now listed as a Senior Director at Apple, where he started in July.

Imagination Technologies engineers Dave Roberts, Jonathan Redshaw, and Benjamin Bowman are also now employed by Apple. Likewise, a fourth engineer Simon Nield joined Apple as a Design Manager just this month. A search of former Imagination Technologies employees now working at Apple yields 25 results.

Apple poaching employees from Imagination Technologies could be part of its efforts to build out an in-house graphics team.

Many of the employees continue to be based in the London, England area, although some have relocated to Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California. An anonymous tipster informed us that Apple has established a new team in London to work on GPUs in house, but the information remains unconfirmed.

Imagination Technologies traditionally supplies the PowerVR graphics architecture found in Apple's range of iPhones and iPads. Apple has been a licensee and stakeholder in the company since at least 2008, and it became a key investor in mid-2009 when it raised its stake in the firm to 10 percent.

In 2014, Imagination Technologies announced an extended licensing agreement with Apple, providing the iPhone maker with access to current and future PowerVR graphics and video IP cores as part of a multi-year deal. These technologies are incorporated into Apple's own A-series chips like the A10 Fusion in iPhone 7.

Tag: Imagination Technologies
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Kaibelf
33 months ago
It's not "poaching" if Imagination was cutting jobs and people chose to leave. If a company I work for seems unstable, I'd look elsewhere too. Being blindsided by a layoff isn't in my game plan.
Rating: 15 Votes
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Duane Martin
33 months ago

And still no investments into Mac :(

I think what you mean is "and still no new Macs". There is plenty of evidence that Apple is investing in Macs; get out of the MacRumors negative vortex for a reality check.

If Apple were to spin off their Mac division it would be one of (if not THE) most profitable computer companies in the world. It is still big business. My suspicion is Apple has been burned by the hot mess that the Intel chip business has become as they are having a hard time predicting what processor they should be tooling their new Macs for. Waiting for Sky Lake, but Sky Lake turns out to be a mess. Then waiting for Kaby Lake, but Kaby Lake is late and potentially challenged with the same problems that have essentially broken Sky Lake. Sure takes me back to the IBM / Motorola G-series days and the whole reason Apple went Intel. Now Apple is being hosed by chip makers again. It is no wonder they are exploring the idea of making their own chips.
Rating: 13 Votes
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Bubba Satori
33 months ago

And still no investments into Mac :(


What's a Mac?
Rating: 10 Votes
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ActionableMango
33 months ago

cut throat business practices that hurt working men and women to advance their own wealth and power


Hurt? You have it completely backwards. Unquestionably these employees moved because they got a better offer from Apple.

As an employee myself, nothing was better for my salary, benefits, and career than having companies compete for me.

Being recruited is a good thing. In fact, when Google and Apple secretly agreed not to recruit each other's employees, that was illegal under California law since it suppresses job opportunities and salaries.
Rating: 7 Votes
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djcerla
33 months ago
Boom!

Tooling up for the ARM Mac and Apple's AR.
Rating: 7 Votes
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LordVic
33 months ago

I think what you mean is "and still no new Macs". There is plenty of evidence that Apple is investing in Macs; get out of the MacRumors negative vortex for a reality check.

If Apple were to spin off their Mac division it would be one of (if not THE) most profitable computer companies in the world. It is still big business. My suspicion is Apple has been burned by the hot mess that the Intel chip business has become as they are having a hard time predicting what processor they should be tooling their new Macs for. Waiting for Sky Lake, but Sky Lake turns out to be a mess. Then waiting for Kaby Lake, but Kaby Lake is late and potentially challenged with the same problems that have essentially broken Sky Lake. Sure takes me back to the IBM / Motorola G-series days and the whole reason Apple went Intel. Now Apple is being hosed by chip makers again. It is no wonder they are exploring the idea of making their own chips.


there's not a lot true in this.

First and foremost: Apple computers is where it is today because of Apple's halo products, first the iPod and then the iPhone. Prior to the iPhone in particular, Apple computers were extremely niche and small. The brand recognition of Apple has brought a lot of attention to their computer business. If those computers suddenly were spun off to a new company, the liklihood of continued sales as they are today is far far less. Nevermind the fact that Apple computers currently are declining in sales as is, not growing.

second: Apple cannot blame intel for being 3+ years behind in their updates. intel has released broadwell and Skylake chips that could be suitable for almost all of their hardware, but have chosen not to take them. Apple will use the excuse "none of them met our requirements" as some ploy to blame Intel, but here's a hint, if not a single manufacturer meets your requirements, but seems to hit 95% of the rest of the PC industries requirements, maybe it's Apple setting unreasonable expectations and its Apple who needs to re-evaluate what they're doing. Most of their current hardware is still on Haswell. There has absolutely been both Broadwell and Skylake chips that could have been used. Apple just decided not to.

Apple also has no capability of "making their own chips". What they have is an inhouse design team that has license for ARM instruction set for their designs. All designs are then shipped to a 3rd party FAB to produce.

And neither broadwell or Skylake were "A mess".
Rating: 6 Votes
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MacLawyer
33 months ago
Doesn't seem cricket.
Rating: 6 Votes
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DynaFXD
33 months ago

People looking else were where there is uncertainty is normal, 25 people leaving from the same company with the same knowledge to the same company is "poaching" .

Why buy the cow when you can get the internal organs for less...
Rating: 5 Votes
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now i see it
33 months ago
Apple is becoming more of a country than a company. Everyone emigrates there.
Rating: 4 Votes
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RickInHouston
33 months ago

I think what you mean is "and still no new Macs". There is plenty of evidence that Apple is investing in Macs; get out of the MacRumors negative vortex for a reality check.

If Apple were to spin off their Mac division it would be one of (if not THE) most profitable computer companies in the world. It is still big business. My suspicion is Apple has been burned by the hot mess that the Intel chip business has become as they are having a hard time predicting what processor they should be tooling their new Macs for. Waiting for Sky Lake, but Sky Lake turns out to be a mess. Then waiting for Kaby Lake, but Kaby Lake is late and potentially challenged with the same problems that have essentially broken Sky Lake. Sure takes me back to the IBM / Motorola G-series days and the whole reason Apple went Intel. Now Apple is being hosed by chip makers again. It is no wonder they are exploring the idea of making their own chips.


Oh my, so much wrong in what you say. I don't even know where to begin...
Rating: 4 Votes

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