① Apple Technical lead Yilun Chen announces his departure from Apple to join Tesla. Optimus team; ② Apple lags behind in AI. Although it has recently gained market recognition due to the iPhone 17 series, investors have not yet seen a breakthrough in AI; ③ Apple also faces challenges in the hardware market due to artificial intelligence. The company faces challenges, as OpenAI has reportedly poached several hardware talents.
Apple's artificial intelligence endeavors have suffered another blow. A technical director who worked at Apple for four years has announced his departure to join Tesla's Optimus AI team.
Yilun Chen, who has participated in several important Apple projects, posted on X that his work at Apple allowed him to grow rapidly. He thanked his mentors, colleagues, and cross-departmental collaborators for shaping his career trajectory, calling the experience unforgettable. He emphasized that each team taught him about technology expansion and product vision guidance, while also helping him adapt to a rapidly changing research environment.
When asked about Tesla , Chen said that he joined Tesla. His motivation came from the Optimus project, whose scale, technological level, and the dedication of its staff deeply impressed him.
He added that during his first week at Tesla , he participated in many spontaneous, in-depth technical discussions, and was very excited about the flat team structure and rapid prototype development cycle.
However, beyond his collaboration with Tesla , Apple may be facing deeper scrutiny. Prior to Chen, Apple had already lost several AI talents, including Ruoming Pang, who was responsible for Apple's foundational models and core generative AI team.
Apple's gains and lossesApple's stock price remained weak for much of the year due to its lagging position in artificial intelligence, until the strong sales of the iPhone 17 series turned the tide.
While hardware sales have boosted investor confidence in Apple, the market has yet to see a breakthrough in Apple's artificial intelligence. Last month, reports surfaced that Apple would purchase the Gemini service from Google to power its Siri assistant. This move may signal a major shift in Apple's AI strategy and has sparked considerable discussion in the market.
Meanwhile, Apple's hardware market is also facing challenges from artificial intelligence companies. Renowned tech journalist Gurman previously revealed that OpenAI's hardware team hired over 40 people in just one month, many of whom came from Apple's hardware engineering team. Among the Apple employees poached were department managers and engineers.
These departing employees may reflect a deeper problem for Apple: the company's recruitment materials are no longer sufficient to attract top tech talent.
On the other hand, the market is increasingly worried about a huge bubble in the artificial intelligence industry, and Apple, which is relatively lagging behind, has gained a relatively safe position in this pessimistic mood.
Que Nguyen, chief investment officer of equity strategy at Research Affiliates, points out that while everyone wants to criticize Apple for not having a real AI strategy, it has demonstrated extremely strong capital discipline, thus completely avoiding the pitfalls of market-wide financing and overspending.
(Article source: CLS)
