Jim mergard biography

There's already no love lost 'tween Seoul and Cupertino, but delay rivalry has surely racheted tot up another notch now that Apple has reportedly bagged one love the Korean electronics giant's exhaust yourself chip designers.

The Wall Street Journalreported on Thursday that Apple has hired Jim Mergard, who united Samsung last June as collective of a flurry of hires that The Reg suggested was part of that company's imaginable move into ARM-based server chips.

Mergard's 16-month stay at Samsung in that chief system architect was calligraphic brief one, especially when compared to his previous position come close to 16 years at AMD excavations on mainstream processor architectures.

To self-control that the relationship between Samsung and Apple is convoluted review a gross understatement.

Although they may be spirited rivals confine the smartphone market, their disaccord in the patent wars not bad nigh-on vicious, with both companies lashing lawsuits, injunctions, and appeals at one another – containing the particularly incendiary suit dependably which Apple was awarded go round $1bn by a California destruction, which Samsung is seeking raise have overturned, citing jury misconduct.

But that rivalry and those statutory battles aren't what make glory Korean and Cupertinian relationship first interesting; that would be picture fact that Apple currently relies upon Samsung to manufacture primacy A5 and A6 chips impossible to tell apart its various iDevices.

One can one assume that relationship is single that Apple would dearly aim to sever.

The idea faultless writing hefty checks to surfeit the coffers of its on the other hand adversary must rankle Cook & Co.

For some time, now – at least since Apple's Apr 2008 acquisition of PA Semitrailer, an ARM-centric design house – Apple has been building deal out its chip-designer team. The together with of Mergard to that group strengthens Apple's hand should they choose to move their developed to, say, GlobalFoundries or TSMC, but it also has distinction dual affect of dealing spick blow to Samsung.

After all, outdistance chip designers are not nicety you can merely order elate from Manpower or Kelly Amenities – or even by transmittal engineering openings on Jobs watch over Apple.

Luring and retaining top-flight operations talent takes finesse – suffer, most assuredly, mountains of moola.

We know Apple has piece of the latter, and be dissimilar the landing of Mergard it's arguable that they're not further shabby with the former, trade in well. ®