Intel Poaches Apple's Chip Pioneer as Talent War Heats Up

Intel has made a major hire as it battles an expanding pool of rivals for top-tier semiconductor industry talent.

Late last week, Jeff Wilcox, who led Apple’s switch to its in-house M1 chips, revealed he had jumped ship to become an Intel Fellow and the CTO of Intel’s Design Engineering Group.

In his new role at the computer component company, Wilcox will focus on system-on-a-chip (SoC) architecture design for all of the firm’s client segments.

Wilcox had been with Apple since November 2013 as the Director of Mac Systems Architecture, meaning he was in charge of system architecture, signal integrity and power integrity for the company’s personal computer segment. Before that, he spent three years at Intel as a Principal Engineer and held similar roles at IDT-owned Magnum Semiconductor and Nvidia.

On LinkedIn, Wilcox announced, “I’m pleased to share that I have started a new position as Intel Fellow, Design Engineering Group CTO, Client SoC Architecture at Intel Corporation. I could not be more thrilled to be back working with the amazing teams there to help create groundbreaking SOCs. Great things are ahead!”

Wilcox rejoins Intel under CEO Pat Gelsinger, who took over the reins at the company in February 2021. Over the past year, Gelsinger and his team have undertaken a new strategy to attract and retain top industry talent, like Wilcox, amid a tightening labor market. A 2017 report commissioned by microelectronics manufacturing industry group SEMI found 77% of member companies believed there was a critical talent shortage, a problem that has persisted.

To combat the labor shortage and competitive talent market, Intel named former Verizon HR executive Christy Pambianchi as its new Chief People Officer in August 2021 with a specific mandate to attract, engage, and retain personnel. Four months later, the company announced $2.4 billion in cash and stock incentives to lure new talent and prevent existing employees from being poached by rivals.