Apple Executives Johny Srouji And John Ternus Talk About Chips, AI And Innovation

In this full interview, CNBC reporter Katie Tarasov sits down with Apple’s head of silicon, Johny Srouji, and senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, for a rare discussion about Apple’s growing chip business, geopolitical risks in Taiwan and what’s next in AI.
Produced by: Katie Tarasov
Edited by: Sydney Boyo
Camera: Andrew Evers, Jeniece Pettitt, Sydney Boyo
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Additional Footage: Apple
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Apple Executives Johny Srouji And John Ternus Talk About Chips, AI And Innovation

[@j340_official]

One thing that really comes across from Johnny Srouji is a sense of pride. I see a highly intelligent being that is doing his life’s work for Cupertino, and is incredibly proud of the silicon he’s helped design and build. Silicon is the foundation. I am happy that Apple made these two available for an interview, Apple usually is very secretive. But it’s good to hear from their designers and engineers from time to time.

[@mr.t993]

Well pride is not always a good thing, you know. Apple hasn't really had a real innovation since a decade ago. They only change the color and increase the prices each year. I have yet to see a critical interview from a TV crew when it comes to avoidable electronic waste.

[@j340_official]

@@mr.t993 I left a comment on the other recent cnbc video on Apple about asking them to explain how their policies on upgradability (or lack thereof) squares with the other Apple policy of being for the environment. So I agree with that. And blind pride (without anything of substance to back it up) is not good no, but being proud of your capabilities and your designs (especially when the market place has shown a liking to your designs) is good in my opinion.

[@gabiakerman9557]

I know the family of him, and they are a very big talent and respected in the community in Haifa, Israel

[@luisfernando5998]

@@gabiakerman9557Israel ? Shame shame kid bomber

[@bjorntrollowsky4279]

@@mr.t993I have to disagree, great innovation is a revolution in a field as opposed to a slow evolution, and the M chips are exactly the only great innovation that came into the laptop and personal computing field in the last 5 years, there's simply nothing else that was a revolutionary change for the users. Its similar to what happend more than 10 years ago when we transitioned to SSDs from HDDs, it changed the experience completely. Compared to the trash macbooks they sold between 2016-20 and also to any other laptop on the market, even in 2024 others will still trying to catch up and according to the latest benchmarks of intel 14th gen cpus and Snapdragon X cpu others are still behind them.

[@NowayJose14]

'i don't like surprises, even on my birthday ' this man is cutthroat 😂

[@pinefilms3141]

because the celebrations of birthdays are pretty stupid... you live every day until the day you're dead, so every day should be celebrated like it's a birthday, since we technically die every time we sleep and we awake (wake) the next morning (mourning)

[@frozenburrito9313]

@@pinefilms3141 geez man

[@doctie]

33:20 “My team knows that I don’t like surprises, even on my own birthday”

[@makasii]

@@pinefilms3141 glad to know you're not someone to be met at any type of celebration.

[@makasii]

That's a way to see it or you can be grateful someone is thinking this way, to find the most efficient product that will avoid as many risks and bad surprises as possible, so that YOU can enjoy it with as many issues as possible. always a question of perspective. It's always easier to criticise than do better :)

[@BoeyChar]

Absolutely love the question “are you guys using Nvidia at all?” and how it got shut down right away. Amazing. 😂

[@AO-rb9yh]

They need to answer the hard questions, or this is just a 34 minute ad....

[@Melchirobin]

@@AO-rb9yhThey likely have contractual agreements preventing them from doing so. That being said I do wish there was more talk on AI and what Apple is doing with AI since it seems like they r falling behind but the internal team does not think they r.

[@Optim40]

Calm down bro. There's more to life out there than this. I promise.

[@mancerrss]

I think they are. It’s the current incumbent right now in AI chips. Not even AMD can compete with its specialized AI chips. Its just too fast to be ignored. But it is incredibly power hungry and inefficient, that could affect their Apple 2020 climate goals. There is no industry indication that Apple is developing their own AI chips for their datacenters in the meantime. Unlike Microsoft or Amazon. They definitely should, but it will be a huge YoY undertaking and would warrant them disconnecting their cloud services from their combined Google Cloud and AWS cloud compute.

[@drunknmasta90]

Exactly. He would have continued his sentiment of building everything in house. But he recoiled immediately.

[@imanmachukwu]

33:40 "Good enough doesn't achieve great rewards." This stuck out to me. Not to be an iSheep, but I love Apple management and the way they do things.

[@simply6162]

time u start being an apple sheep then

[@AnonN-sr6uu]

Crazy how you need to put a disclaimer in order not to be called an iSheep. Personally, I love Apple, their management, culture, values, and the way they do things. I don’t care if that makes me an iSheep. They’re literally the exemplary organization of the world.

[@imanmachukwu]

@@AnonN-sr6uu exactly my view lol.

[@firstnamelastname2971]

@@AnonN-sr6uuthis is exactly my view too

[@coupe2563]

@@AnonN-sr6uui agree

[@user-ky3dg3nc4x]

Amazing interview. These are the real engineers at Apple. Johny Srouji is very very sharp.

[@NautiPapaT]

Katie does a great job on the questions - open ended but challenging, and none of those stupid "gotcha" questions trying to paint them into a corner like others do. Well done and very insightful information to understand Apple's view on the future

[@gpl12]

She is so bored, though. Great questions, but no interaction on her part.

[@MeMeVoyageOf]

Yeah, marvy. Notice how they respond exactly like people who were given these questions in advance. Yawn! 🙄

[@JeremiahToussaint]

"We can not talk about the future" Apple executives

[@gameboyAdvSpDSi]

There’s Joana Stern, then there’s Joana Chill.

[@marzanulislam5638]

To me, it seemed like talking to a robot. It's almost like she is forced to do the interview. No interaction on her part whatsoever.

[@antoinemorcos1321]

Bravo to the journalist asking the right questions. 👍

[@bernios3446]

True, intelligent questions that target sensitive topics (brain drain at Apple) and are not that common. Actually her questions were better than some of Johny's answers who tended much to the "corporate" side.

[@antoinemorcos1321]

@@bernios3446 indeed

[@bernios3446]

@@antoinemorcos1321I can only imagine the consequences of a China- Taiwan war. It may easily be worse than Covid crisis. TSMC is like the heart of the tech world.

[@superblondeDotOrg]

No, the questions were quite standard and naive. She did not even ask how Gross Margins have improved which is the most important point for investors. Just another halfbaked journalist.

[@antoinemorcos1321]

@@bernios3446 exactly I actually saw this TSM weak point in the world 4 years ago when nobody was talking about it. This company is the new oil. Probably the most important company in the world.

[@simonrioss]

Great interview! I wish we would get insides like these from Apple more often

[@desiexpat7]

My respect for Apple and its products has increased with this interview. They certainly are proudly the state-of-the-art right now. Appreciate the insights on chip design and product integration.

[@namenloss730]

I remain ambivalent about them. They develop great technologies, they have very good engineers, but their commercial strategy is extremely user unfriendly

[@AnonN-sr6uu]

@@namenloss730precisely the opposite. They’re the most customer focused company in the world, hence their success.

[@parnakdave3140]

@@namenloss730 how so?

[@abusalem411]

Let me summarise: Hardware, software, and product teams working closely. This is the answer to every question.

[@Delicate141]

BEST hardware BEST software BEST teams

[@kimnoel489]

​@@Delicate141 BEST in class*

[@sirsoos3546]

Just two Johns running the hardware of one of the richest, most influential, companies in the world.

[@chirapacidne]

Two Johns and one Karen 😂

[@jerryl10000]

Take a shot every time Johny says "We're not a chip company"

[@jaanireel]

00:15 Apple executives Johny Srouji and John Ternus discuss their roles and collaboration 02:31 Apple has shifted to doing many technologies in-house, especially silicon. 07:28 Diversifying chip manufacturing is important for Apple's long-term strategy. 09:47 Apple executives discuss challenges and achievements in building A4 chip 14:38 Apple transitioned to its own silicon to build a better product without compromises. 16:45 Pushing the envelope for a better machine 20:55 Advantages of Apple's approach in chip design 23:16 Apple focuses on building the best chips to enable their vision for the best products on the planet. 27:26 Apple has developed AI chips for on-device machine learning. 29:25 Apple executives discuss the advantages of Apple Silicon and the future of chips and AI. 33:16 Apple executives emphasize the importance of careful chip design and validation.

[@the_DOS]

Brah you the best

[@fawzirahmadiyanzuhairi6828]

Thanks a lot

[@fetB]

@@the_DOS bot....

[@user-tv9ki3ij6t]

Why did you do this😡my life is ruined

[@user-tv9ki3ij6t]

Why did you do this😡my life is ruined

[@terranceblount5959]

What a great interview! KZbin should have put this in my feed. Found it thanks to FPT and I was zoned in the entire time. Great job, Katie. 👏🏽 Hope to see more in the tech space by her and the team.

[@TomNook.]

Poor John, didn't talk for ages 😂

[@facundomarino10]

Great interviewer, uncomfortable questions but politely. Awesome Apple being open to this too. This benefits consumers. Win-win.

[@jom1439]

12:00 As an industrial designer I feel working for this company is like the pinnacle of our jobs idea. Its design first: the vision of a product is what matters. They don’t build a product around what they already have. The ENABLE the vision. That’s great. Most companies work the other way around. Engineers deliver a finished tech package to design, and we have ‚to make it look good‘. That’s an impossible feat and creates dull uninspiring objects.

[@kellybj08]

Another great interview from Katie Tarasov! Some of the best technical interviews I have seen.

[@NealIRC]

Too bad she wasn't in bikinis during this video.

[@Optim40]

Yea right. The whole time she acted like she was at the beach. Wtf was that ? Loll Sitting like a dude with no worries in life. Lolll

[@Doomscrolled]

Guess you did not see the whole baby she creating while interviewing industry giants, are you anywhere close to that accomplishment? @@Optim40

[@jamie.goodson]

@@Optim40 "Sitting like a dude" Maybe you missed that she's *literally pregnant*. C'mon man 😂

[@lifeaspatel]

@@Optim40Understand her being Pregnant, but the tone of her questions was more of an interrogation on these Engineers!!! Like Lady, get a grip.

[@maxziebell4013]

Love Apple, but 8GB on base models in the pro lineup is really embarrassing, though.

[@mancerrss]

Are you a bot?? Because both Pro and non-Pro iPhones start at 128GB now??

[@lennard4454]

They know what they are doing! Maximise Profit 🤑 People buy anyway. There are many people who just use Safari, Word and Excel.... Those people will actually not notice and don't care.

[@maxziebell4013]

No I am not a bot… and I am talking about the RAM on MacBook Pros … 8GB disk space would be a bit low 😂

[@bencegabor648]

That's for the M3, which I believe is for the 'regular' customer, which I agree is still very little. The M3 Pro starts at 18GB and the M3 Max at 36GB, those are the chips truly intended for pro users.

[@maxziebell4013]

@@bencegabor648 Yeah, regular customer… but than don't call it "Pro"

This was surprisingly interesting, in depth interview and questions were incredibly smart. Katie did phenomenal job here. Or whoever prepared these questions :)

[@goyaldev0911]

both guys have intense focus on quality product- a key learning for me

[@mingouczjcz3800]

It seems quality and innovation are issues for Apple.

[@RLang03]

@@mingouczjcz3800quality is definitely not an issue for Apple lol

[@wyattb3138]

Compare this to Microsoft SVPs

[@user-jh7wv3yu5y]

Very interesting interview which opens a door behind apple design and engineering processes. Always been a fan of Johny Srouji and John Ternus, after this interview they've become even more compelling. Also, it's great that CNBC follows the principle of equality and demonstrates that no matter what condition the interviewer is in, this approach also reminds me of Apple's principles.

[@michaelkhalsa]

Because they control both the hardware and os, Apple is in a somewhat unique space to bring forth truly next generation approaches, which companies like IBM are currently pioneering.

[@AaronTheHarris]

Good interview, probably gleaned about as much as you can expect to hear from Apple regarding these types of topics.

[@Classicman.43]

Sheesh. Some parts of this felt like a deposition rather than a friendly interview. Good video

[@JDelta87]

Johny “We are not a chip company” Srouji 😅

[@mli8270]

Informative interview! Be great if CNBC start making series of in depth interview like this for the mag7 and beyond

[@corvinyt]

This setup has a Lewis & Clark and Sacagawea vibe to it. 😁

[@GeorgeLathem]

When you get the questions before the exam and finish the exam in 5 minutes flawlessly

[@piegangxbankroll8970]

Johny Srouji Is well articulated

[@phenomenalfemale524]

How often do you see a pregnant woman doing an interview? This is rare, and refreshing.

[@gnuemacs1166]

Forced to work even when pregnant not impressive exploitive

[@RunForPeace-hk1cu]

@@gnuemacs1166when you pregnant you become a vegetable? 😂😂😂

[@darinherrick9224]

Horrifying. She should be on paid maternity leave. Unless she absolutely demanded to keep working?

[@gnuemacs1166]

@@darinherrick9224 who would demand that ? Only in America where they make no provisions not even a parking space

[@notoriouspomegranate5612]

She should do whatever she wants. But why would it be refreshing?

[@thecapone45]

I really enjoyed this interview I think Katie did a good job. Seemed very elegant, poised, and polite and intelligent. Really enjoyed the is interviews of hers and I think Johnny really shined in his intellect and his pride in the work he does.

[@discoverymoi]

So amazing to see two high rank Apple executives being so relatively open about silicon and some internal management, and also when you hear what they say it makes total sense cause the products they make are a clear representation of that, pure commitment to the final product, if Apple (in a parallel world) decided to sell their software and silicon chips they would be bigger than some big companies today.

[@Answerx32]

Great interview. I hope Apple does this more often.

[@maxsaltin1001]

Apple makes amazing products! Expensive but they are of great quality, it is always worth it. They last for years, perform for years, looks great. I wish I could afford the visions pros but maby someday. I’m confident they will know and want to keep leading hardware/software product capitalisation!

[@silverfish764]

That is how a tech interview is conducted. Such a great host with two world class engineers.

[@229Mike]

Very good interview with top leading industry insiders from Apple. I would’ve liked some of the questions about the new Vision Pro and the future impacts on what they believe this will bring to Apple as a new category they are going to offer, but overall very interesting.

[@adamzguy]

Likely a condition of the interview to leave it off the table?

[@RB-uw6ez]

Katie Tarasov, you did a great job!

[@victorjr.]

Hello Johny greetings from Peru , I wish you the best this coming year at Apple , I am glad to see you on this interview.

[@rubenrodrigotv]

Katie did great questions. Fantastic interview. Congrats!

[@tshirtnjeans4829]

Q: Are you relying on some Nvidia at all? Are you guys buying any... Johny Srouji cuts her off nervously A: We cannot discuss So yes

[@wyattb3138]

Apple hates Nvidia. Maybe because of Johnny.

[@tshirtnjeans4829]

Who's Johhny?@@wyattb3138

[@liangkeshulizi]

informative talk

[@kratosrage]

this is the first interview that I'm seeing apple spoke person talking with much clarity

[@MultiformeIngegno]

The interviewer was great. Super interesting interview

[@tostyjoost]

beautiful interview

[@josephroberts7374]

Very well done interview. Educational. Could see the passion and drive of both engineers, and the love for their work and Apple. Interesting answer to their future AI prospects as well. Seems to be in line with the rumors I'm hearing of an announcement related to AI coming this Summer. Also, Cook at yesterday's earning call mentioned AI for the first time. Given they have all the aspects in house, and they control, AI is gonna be a BIG market for them moving forward.

[@EddieThe]

Very exciting time, both their teams have really done some incredible things. Very excited to see the future of apple silicon play out over these next few years.

[@luxmaster]

very good guys, great interview.

[@KelvinF]

they got kind of excited when talking about generative AI. I hope we get great updates with those AI improvements.

[@darrenjoe674]

Apple. Love it. Great job.

[@aperzinger]

always great when apple faces such interviews.

[@MA-xb2yz]

Timestamps?

[@legendhasit2568]

Exceptional interviewer. Well done

[@robertosanchez879]

I love the Christoph Waltz guy

[@user-bk5ep9wq8q]

잼있는 방송 감사합니다

[@awesomebrotherhood7698]

I am sure Johny will get a raise after this interview

[@user-ob5rg6ne6l]

Great video 📹 ❤

[@mjyoutube5376]

Good questions by the journalist

[@chirapacidne]

Karen just reading simple questions prepared ahead of the interview. And they obviously can't respond to the questions honestly, so these questions are generating just stupid cororate bs as the result

[@simustudio6207]

I would be happy if they say something about cloud computing.

[@hailandfire1822]

Interviewer: let's talk about the future Apple: we can't discuss the future Interviewer: Are you relying on some Nvidia at all? Apple: Again, we can't discuss. Therefore: NVIDIA IS IN THEIR FUTURE PLANS

[@JasonB808]

Apple hasn’t used NVIDIA in a looong time. Apple Macs used AMD graphics when they were using Intel Macs for a while. Apple make their own I-GPUs in Apple silicon and they are nothing like the IGPUs in desktop processors. The M3 Max has a GPU that is on par with GeForce 3070 laptop GPU but with far less power consumption.

[@hailandfire1822]

@@JasonB808 So you can see the future? You must be making billions.

[@dqieu]

Most assume the question is about development, not product@@JasonB808

[@portman8909]

Apple will use Nvidia for ray tracing on iphone

[@ThemeParkToday_4K]

great video

[@Marvel-HP-DC]

29:37 how they smile when she asked how they respond to the grow of AI by other big companies. Apples has a big big plan I think to crush that all!!!They work for years on that and are so proud of that so they are really sure that they will demolish the competition. 😮

[@acdnintheusa]

Apple is famously quiet. At times they’re accused of lagging their competition. As this interview touched on, their efforts in generative AI being the most recent criticism. This great interview should dispel and quiet some of the critics.

[@etran211]

Best in class! How many times did he say that? Lol.

[@Alphfirm]

exciting!

[@makasii]

Yes Mam, we do know Apple does it all, AND we highly appreciate how the products amazingly improved since Apple took the lead in their chips architecture. As creatives and independent professionals, we need products we can rely on, products we can trust, can last, keep their value in second life market and last but not least, a strong ecosystem to have multiple products working seamlessly together. The only "sad" part (but it's a general aspect in our today's tech world) is that the hardware and design innovation isn't as exciting as it was 20 years ago. Changes are a lot less impressive between generations of products, reducing a lot the pleasure of getting a new generation, as it still look and feel the same than the previous 3-5 models...

[@mrshekar67]

This was so insightful . I was expecting an question on quantum computing's future for apple .. to increase compute and use AI efficiently

[@Nilvou]

She asked all the right questions and clearly did her research.

[@austinarchibald]

Next CEO of Apple. I like him!

[@Yewbzee]

The very fact that they don’t think they have fallen behind on AI is exactly why they have.

[@stefanhuber3845]

Great interview 👏 A little bit more questions about sustainability of Apple products🙏

[@shaungrace9745]

you need a duel speaker, in each beats headphone piece, to create better 3d 4d sound. hope its something

[@JohnSmith-pn2vl]

apple silicon is just mind blowing

[@mikerepairsstuff]

Great video.. there are a kazillion electrical circuits in a computer and pretty humbling that if any one circuit was short circuited the device would not operate.

[@factorywatch]

Never thought about that

[@NerdRapper]

Ah yes, the marriage between hardware and silicon 🤣

[@vanbccanful]

“We are not a chip” Ok, we get it Johnny!

[@satvikk3167]

Johny Srouji, what a man, what an engineer 👏

[@michelstronguin6974]

The real question is if Apple will have to drop the EU due to the restrictions put on it. They did USB-C which is great, and Apple can handle that. But opening up the platform, plus forcing Apple to have the battery easily removable by a layman is harsh. I believe Apple can push back a bit here. Secondly, a good question is - since TSMC provides around %95 of the 3 and soon 2 nanometer global chip supply, how aggresively can Apple realistically switch gear if China invades Taiwan? One can only hope that Apple has a secret project in the USA to build foundry capacity 15 times that of Arizona. If not, the modern world will suffer greatly, not only Apple.

[@louistech112]

This is a great question I think they prob are working on a chip plant here . I know tscm is working in Arizona to build a fab plant

[@mnjai148]

Surprised by this interview. It’s not the norm

[@jr7055]

10/10

[@prosharpshooter8965]

Am I the only one seeing that Kate is most likely pregnant? (Hoping that her extended belly isn’t a health complication) - I like how CNBC is pushing the envelope on changing the narrative on women and pregnancies in the work place. Kudos 👍

[@andymrkipling]

Isreal. Love.

[@zero131056]

Great interview but I would love for her to enquire about gaming and Apple a bit more.

[@ointerface]

Nothing on AVP?

[@VincentLeong-bb4vn]

Really well-explained by Apple's officials. I like Apple as a company even though I am fully aware that they are sometimes just greedy. Apple products are a pleasure to use and the tight integration between devices, hardware, and software, makes them so good together and no other company can achieve this "walled garden" effect.

[@lamarler]

But why cant I add or delete a contact - simple task? why is siri wrong too often? why has tecn support notresolved this in weeks? After 30 years of using apple this is not a user error.

[@bbluedot]

32:20 ???

[@NealIRC]

A pregnant woman standing next to 2 guys is easily 1 of the best videos to watch.

[@sanbetski]

Why, explain

[@Optim40]

You mean some girl sitting like a dude ? Thinking she's in complete control ? Nah I'm good. She actually disrespected those two men with that nonsense.

[@NealIRC]

@@sanbetskiit shows she has confidence.

[@sanbetski]

@@NealIRC thats a stupid and sexist explanation. So any pregnant doing their job is confident?

[@NealIRC]

No@@sanbetski, a pregnant woman posing with 2 guys and not caring what others think, is confidence.

[@brandonmgraves]

"There were rumors around [iPhone 15 overheating]" - John Ternus 😆

[@theodorehaskins3756]

So I am not a product development, kind of person, and so I won’t comment about this interview in that respect, but what I would like to know, maybe in a future sit down with some of Apple’s top tech people is what’s happening with project Titan, and will we ever see, an apple designed car?

[@phongle1772]

So they are years ahead of what the public gets. Wonder how many versions of Vision Pros they are on?

[@MarkVanOuse]

Very good interview asking some good tough questions. And of course Apple played their cards very close to the chest. Big takeaway something they kept saying over and over again Apple is not a chip company it is a product company. With an almost totally vertical integration every design point is tuned specifically Apple OS and software. Another bit of Apple brilliance is reusable technology across different products

[@CoderRaven19]

Apple is one of the few companies where most of management and marketing have engineering and technical backgrounds...

[@eDesignHouse]

Great interview but Johnny needs to learn how to pass the mic.

[@scriptles]

I dont remember the air pods launch that well but I do remember before then there just was not a lot of options for wireless Bluetooth headphones. And I remember people laughing at me for saying that having no wire between left and right ear was going to be the future. I was right. Once apple came out with these it became like the standard now.

[@bigbadwolf4419]

Apples bread and butter is their operating software

[@StunnaTwo9]

How many engineers does Apple have?

[@markoconnell804]

Intensify chip development to sustain your technological edge. Harness the potential of AI for optimal advancements, ensuring your dominance as industry leaders. Give that AI to your customers so that they can maximize their work and play productivity efforts that rival science fiction today. Your unwavering dedication propels your success; continue pushing boundaries at full throttle. Proactively expedite the US chip foundry to safeguard against potential threats, such as a China-Taiwan conflict. The preservation of this foundry is crucial, and the US will not concede it to external forces. Prepare proactively to avert any setbacks and ensure uninterrupted progress.

[@xavhow]

I don’t believe we are falling behind in AI. That sums it up.

[@bolantoydelmar6799]

make the battery Good focus on it. not easy to lowbatt..