Report: Apple building its own chip design team

Apple is building its own chip design team, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, a move that could allow the company to bring exclusive features to its devices but also may help reinforce the perception that Apple promotes an insular and secretive corporate culture.

The Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, said Apple has been advertising multiple job listings for engineers and those working in chip design. It also recently hired Raja Koduri, who was  the chief technology officer of the graphics products group at Advanced Micro Devices. Koduri followed Bob Drebin to Apple, who also had that title at AMD.

The goal of the new plan is to make Apple devices, including the iPhone and iPod Touch, more power efficient, as well as to integrate more advanced graphics capabilities into the devices. In addition, the move is seen by those the Journal spoke to as a way for Apple to beat rivals to the market in terms of advanced features as well as to shield the manufacturer's tech plans from outside chipset suppliers. The strategy marks a break from most consumer electronics companies, which traditionally farm out chip work to external suppliers; CEO Steve Jobs has pushed to bring the work inside Apple, according to the report.

Apple declined to comment on the report.

The new, internally designed products will not appear until next year at the earliest, according to the report, but the move is a sign of Apple's relative strength in the market.  

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