ÌÇÐÄVlog

A key Apple engineer responsible for leading development teams working on proprietary processor core designs has left the company after nine years of service, according to a report on Friday.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, CNET reports Gerard Williams III as Apple's senior director in platform architecture in February.

Williams joined the company in 2010 after a 12-year stint at ARM, where he worked as a fellow on various projects including the development of legacy ARM chips, as well as Cortex-A8, Cortex-A15 and next-generation processor technology. Prior to ARM, the engineer was design team lead at Texas Instruments, where he assisted in the development of the TI TMS470 micro-controller program, according to his LinkedIn .

At Apple, Williams spearheaded core design for in-house Apple chips like the A7, which debuted in iPhone 5s as the world's first 64-bit mobile processor.

"Chief Architect for all Apple CPU and SOC development. For CPU, lead the Cyclone, Typhoon, Twister, Hurricane, Monsoon, and Vortex architecture work. And everyday, I still work on very very cool stuff," Williams writes in his LinkedIn bio.

Building on the A7's success, Apple has gone on to release multiple A-series chip generations, each with Williams helming core design. More recently, Williams' duties expanded to encompass not only the processor core, but also the layout of components on Apple's system-on-chip silicon, the report said. The escalation in responsibility came with the departure of SoC architect Manu Gulati, who left Apple for a similar role at Google in 2017.

A now-former report to SVP of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji, considered the mastermind behind Apple's in-house chip team, Williams leaves a significant hole in the company's executive lineup.

The reason for Williams' departure is unknown. According to CNET sources, the engineer has yet to take a position at another company.