Apple withdraws lawsuit against creator of iPhone and iPad processor chip

Technology

Monday, May 1, 2023 07:31 (GMT+7)
07:31 5/1/2023

After more than three years of litigation, Apple has quietly dropped its trade secret theft lawsuit against Gerard Williams III, the lead designer of Apple's A-Series chips.

Gerard Williams III was instrumental in the company's success through the design of the Apple A chipset. Photo: Foundry .

After more than three years of litigation, Apple has quietly dropped its trade secret theft lawsuit against Gerard Williams III, the former chief engineer who designed Apple’s mobile chips from the A7 to the A12X. Williams left the company in 2019 after nine years with the company.

According to Bloomberg , Apple’s request to dismiss the lawsuit was filed this week in state court in San Jose, California. The filing did not explain why the lawsuit was dismissed.

Joining Apple in 2010, Gerard Williams is the chief architect responsible for designing processors for the iPhone and iPad.

He is the chief designer of the Apple A-Series chip line, the "heart" of the iPhone and iPad, and contributed to creating a new standard in SoC design, helping chip designers integrate the CPU, GPU and GPU memory into a single SoC.

During his nine years at the Cupertino giant, Gerard Williams III created more than 60 patents. In February 2019, Williams left Apple to start his own company, Nuvia, which designs processors for data centers.

In December 2019, Apple filed a lawsuit against its main chip designer for planning and engaging in business activities that compete with Apple.

All three Nuvia founders used to work for Apple. From left: John Bruno, Gerard Williams III and Manu Gulati. Photo: Nuvia.

Williams is said to have secretly worked on his startup while still in office. He had access to many confidential Apple documents that he could use for his business.

Not only Gerard Williams, but also two former Apple employees John Bruno and Manu Gulati also co-founded Nuvia. All three are said to have received more than 100 patents related to chip design and system engineering.

Williams denies Apple’s claim that he persuaded Bruno and Gulati to quit. He also says there is no evidence to support the accusation, and even accuses Apple of collecting his private messages to support his complaint. Apple’s business is not in conflict with or competing with Nuvia.

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