[InvaderFizz]

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...

[AgentOrange1234]

I don’t know Apple’s turnaround, but processors are released in products only long after their design is completed. Think at least several months, even likely a year+ between design and release.

Nuvia started early enough to be a factor here. But Rivos wasn’t even founded until June 2021. To release now, M2 would already have been at finished with design by then.

[dijonman2]

Chip manufacturing is difficult, this reminds me of the Japanese entry into the semiconductor market.

There is an excellent video on this for anyone interested in Japanese culture and the war against USA via semiconductors:

https://youtu.be/bwhU9goCiaI

[skohan]

Reads like FUD to me