Two high-level baseband hardware engineers have left wireless semiconductor firm Broadcom to join Apple this year, adding more fuel to the rumor that the maker of the iPhone is planning to design and build its own baseband processors for future devices.
Paul Chang, a former Broadcom principal engineer joined Apple as a senior program manager in February, according to his LinkedIn profile, as discovered by AppleInsider on Wednesday. During his 11 years at Broadcom, Chang was the RF hardware lead for the development of baseband transceivers.
He played a large role at Broadcom’s mobile communications CMOS business unit, driving product development “from the inception to delivery to customers.” Chang’s name appears on at least three Broadcom patents covering integrated circuit manufacturing methods.
Xiping Wang, a longtime Broadcom engineer, joined Apple in January. Wang had beeb a design engineer and hardware development manager for over 10 years at Broadcom.
Apple has assembled at least 30 mid-to-senior-level baseband software and hardware engineers from Broadcom and Qualcomm over the past three years. Apple also has help wanted postings for more than 50 additional openings related to RF chip design, indicating Apple is still building up its team.
Report of the hires comes just two days following rumors that Apple was planning to move the design and development of its baseband processor design in-house. Apple has recently been making moves to gain more control over the components used to build its popular devices.
