On April 21, Bloomberg reported that Apple’s new chief hardware officer, Johny Srouji, told employees on Monday that Apple would merge its hardware engineering and hardware technology departments and divide the organization into five core areas.
Sluji appointed chief hardware officer
Apple announced on Monday that hardware engineering chief John Ternus will serve as its new CEO. At the same time, Apple also disclosed that Sluji will serve as chief hardware officer.
Sluji said in an email to Apple employees that the department will be divided into five teams: hardware engineering, chip, advanced technology, platform architecture and project management. The adjustment is aimed at simplifying the organizational structure he is responsible for. The department will add thousands of new employees and assume engineering responsibilities for iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and other products.
Under Srouji's leadership, Apple's hardware engineering team will now be run by Tom Marieb. Malibu is an Intel veteran who joined Apple in 2019 to lead a team responsible for product quality and hardware integrity.
The chip team will be led by long-time Apple executive Sri Santhanam; platform architecture will be led by Tim Millet; advanced technology will be led by Zongjian Chen; Donny Nordhues will be responsible for project management.
In the email, Slugy also mentioned Ternus' appointment and Cook's resignation, saying that Cook "made the best choice about who is best to succeed him."
“Those of us who have had the opportunity to work closely with John know that he is a very thoughtful and capable leader,” Slugy said.
Apple's decision to merge its hardware engineering and hardware technology teams returns the company to an organizational structure it adopted more than a decade ago. The two teams were part of the same department under former hardware chief Bob Mansfield, but were split in 2012 when Mansfield first retired. That split ultimately paved the way for Ternus and Sluji to advance within Apple.
The new management structure will elevate Sruji to the top position after Ternus. Srouji told Cook last year that he was considering leaving Apple to pursue other positions.This realignment helps solidify hardware and engineering as a core priority for the company.