On December 17, Bloomberg reported that Apple was recruiting wireless chip engineers in Irvine, California, or Irvine, or involving RF, Bluetooth and Wi Fi chips, where there are also offices of Broadcom and Skyworks.

Bloomberg speculates that Apple plans to develop its own RF, Bluetooth and Wi Fi chips to replace related components of Broadcom, Skyworks and Qualcomm. An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the recruitment plan, while representatives of Broadcom and Skyworks have not yet officially responded. However, after the report, the share price of Skyworks plummeted by 11%, and both Broadcom and Qualcomm fell by more than 4%.

Apple is a major financier of many chip manufacturers. According to Bloomberg data, Apple related revenue accounts for 60% of Skyworks' revenue. For Broadcom, 20% of its revenue comes from Apple related businesses. The $15 billion wireless component supply agreement between Broadcom and Apple in early 2020 will expire in 2023.

There is also the GPU designer Imagination in the UK. Apple's decision to start developing its own GPU in 2017 almost bankrupted Imagination. It was not until 2020 that the two sides reached a new license agreement.

This is not the first time Apple has entered the field of wireless chips. The most famous thing before must be Apple's dispute with Qualcomm over modems (hereinafter referred to as baseband in order to follow domestic customs). Although both on/off, on/off and on did not improve the signal problem that iPhone was criticized by people, rumors of Apple developing its own baseband have never stopped since Apple acquired Intel's baseband department at a price of $1 billion.

Apple has previously made customized components on AirPods and Apple Watch. Since the iPhone 11, Apple has also carried U1 UWB ultra wideband chips on a large scale, which are used for precise near-field positioning. Apple has also released the AirTag "loss preventer" using Bluetooth and UWB technology.

The main reason why Apple's recruitment information will involve Broadcom and Skyworks is Owen and Apple's historical habits. In addition to the offices of Broadcom and Skyworks in Irvine, NXP is also here (Apple Mobile Payment uses NXP's NFC chip), and the University of California Irvine, which is famous for RF related engineering projects, is also here.

Apple has the habit of setting up offices near suppliers, and sometimes this is the first step for Apple to replace them. Previously, Apple set up an office for chips in Portland, Oregon, near the Intel building, and operated the same operations in Austin, Texas, and Orlando, Florida (AMD), Haifa and Hezilla, Israel (with Intel engineers), and near the Infineon headquarters in Munich, Germany. In addition, Apple invested in Dialog Semiconductor Plc, a power management chip company, in 2018, taking over hundreds of its employees in the UK and Italy.

Apple is still expanding everywhere. Its headquarters are in Cupertino, but it also has many employees in San Diego (where Qualcomm is headquartered), and has expanded its recruitment scope to chips, smart homes, displays and software. Apple also has an Apple TV+and other digital service related branch in Los Angeles, and an office to develop AR augmented reality in Newport Beach near Irving.

Apple, a huge beast with a market value of nearly $3 trillion, is devouring everything upstream and downstream.

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