Facebook's looking to develop its own chips

New job listings from Facebook suggest the company is looking to be a bit more self-reliant. Under the infrastructure category, the social media company is looking to hire a manager who will assemble “end-to-end SoC/ASIC, firmware, and driver organization.” With the listing filed under infrastructure, it could be Facebook is looking to build a team for its artificial intelligence servers, which are currently NVIDIA-powered. One of the job listing references says it needs “expertise to build custom solutions targeted at multiple verticals including AI/ML,” which broadens the focus a bit but also shows the company looking to develop its AI capabilities further. Also, who knows if the company might want to use it to power any hardware it might release in the future, including things like future Oculus virtual reality headsets.

Source: The Verge

Apple reported to drop Intel as chipmaker as early as 2020 to use its own silicon

Two giants: Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Intel CEO Paul Otellini join forces in 2005 to bring Intel chips to the Mac ecosystemBy Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple and its Mac computers have long been held back by the features and availability of Intel chipsets which are being used in MacBooks as well as iMacs. Apple has found great success with custom silicon, even acquiring various processor chipmakers like Intrinsity and Passif to help development of their A series processors used in iPhones and iPads, news from Bloomberg Technology hints that Apple will shift from Intel to its own chips in laptops and desktops by 2020.

The news, which affected Intel shares and caused a sudden drop by 9.2 per cent, even if Apple only makes up 5 per cent of Intel's processor business. Apple and Intel got into an exclusive partnership in 2005 when IBM's PowerPC processors were hitting a threshold in performance. It took Apple a year to make the transition and it never looked back, until now.

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