Apple chip chief Johny Srouji rumored to consider his own exit

Another change could happen to Apple's leadership soon, with rumors that chip chief Johny Srouji is considering leaving the iPhone maker.

Apple's managerial tier has seen many changes in a short space of time. If a new report is to be believed, then another change could be right around the corner.

According to sources of Bloomberg, SVP of hardware technologies Johny Srouji informed CEO Tim Cook that he is considering leaving Apple in the near future. Srouji has also reportedly told colleagues that he wants to join another company if he does leave, though it is unknown what company that would be.

Apple declined to comment to the report.

In response, Cook is supposedly keen to retain key talent by potentially offering stronger compensation packages. In the case of Srouji, some executives allegedly floated the idea that, if engineering chief John Ternus eventually replaced Cook as a viable CEO candidate, Srouji could be tempted by a move to the CTO position.

That said, there are also murmurs that Srouji may not work under other CEOs, even if he secured a more prominent role.

A questionable claim

For Apple, the departure of Jony Srouji could be a massive hit for its innovative hardware. The architect of Apple's chips, including the Apple Silicon line, a move from the company could result in big changes within a few chip generations.

However, at the same time, the departure claim is odd for a number of reasons. For a start, it follows on the heels of other similar announcements, but without any official confirmation from Apple itself.

Disclosing to Cook and colleagues seems to be hard to believe, given the relatively minimal reporting.

There is also the matter of Srouji's age. At 61, it seems more plausible for him to stick where he is until he is ready to retire, rather than move on to another place.

It could easily be another bit of speculation, mining from a rich seam of news stories, which has even resulted in more speculation on Tim Cook's eventual retirement.

Following other departures

The new story comes after a series of other retirement and departure announcement that all landed in quick succession.

On December 1, SVP of Machine Learning and AI Strategy John Giannandrea was announced as retiring, replaced by Amar Subramanya. He will stick around until the spring of 2026.

That was followed by Alan Dye, who was poached by Meta and will join the company formally as its Chief Design Officer on December 31. He is being replaced by Steve Lemay.

By December 4, the corporate body count grew again. Both VP for Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson and Apple general counsel Kate Adams were said to be retiring in 2026.

It is key to remember that Apple is a massive company, with 164,000 employees. While very high on the food chain, there are always people joining and leaving Apple, and that change is inevitable.

At the time of reporting, Apple has not confirmed or denied the Srouji report. But, if it's true, you can at least expect some official confirmation on the matter, given his position in the company.