Rumor: Apple wants to design its own chips for wireless technology

Apple is looking for engineers to design chips for wireless technology in the American city of Irvine. According to Bloomberg, Apple wants the chips to become less dependent on companies such as Broadcom, Skyworks and Qualcomm.

The expansion in the California city of Irvine is said to be in its early stages, but recent job postings would describe Apple seeking employees with experience designing modem chips and other semiconductors for wireless technology, Bloomberg said. According to the site, Apple wants to design chips and socs for wireless radio and semiconductors for connecting to Bluetooth and WiFi.

Apple currently purchases such chips from companies such as Broadcom, Skyworks and Qualcomm. The move would be part of Apple’s strategy to design more chips in-house to reduce reliance on other companies and take more control of development. Rumors have been circulating for years that Apple wants to develop modems itself and the company would have started doing this last year. Apple acquired Intel’s smartphone modem division in 2019, but is said to have contracts with Qualcomm to use Qualcomm modems until May 2024.