While some felt the PA Semi purchase might represent (or cause) a rift between Apple and its main chip dealer, master and commander Jobs says that's a bunch of hogwash. In fact, in a post-earnings interview with the Wall Street Journal's* * Business Technology Blog, Jobs reiterated the relationship between the two companies is as strong as ever.
"We have a great partnership with Intel," he said, echoing earlier remarks he made at this year's Macworld. "We expect that to continue forever."
4-Ever, people! That is a strong bond.
Jobs even confirmed our own bit of idle speculation, saying that the main reason Apple gobbled up PA Semi was for its chip design expertise. As we noted, Apple spends a substantial amount of time coming up with custom designed chips for its smaller devices. According to Jobs, having a bunch of PA Semi engineers at the company's beck and call will make its chip design kung-fu all the more powerful.
Of course, the big irony in this acquisition is that PA Semi designs chips based on IBM’s Power technology -- yup, the family of chips Apple dumped three years ago for Intel. So does this mean Apple's thinking about going back to those PowerPC chips anytime soon?
"I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over that," Jobs told the Business Technology Blog. "We’re very happy with Intel."
