Apple Loses P.A. Semi Founder to Startup

Dan Dobberpul, the P.A. Semi founder and CEO, has apparently left Apple to work at a chip related start-up, according to a CNET report.

Dobberpuhl began working at Apple when his company was acquired in April of 2008 for $278 million.

Several sources said Dobberpuhl's departure was not recent and may have happened as long ago as last fall or possibly before that. Sources said they believe Dobberpuhl has joined Amarjit Gill, a former PA Semi principal, at Silicon Valley start-up Agnilux.


Mark Hayter another one of P.A. Semi's leading members may also have left Apple.

Linley Gwennap, president of The Linley Group, said Dobberpuhl "was the CEO at PA Semi and leader of the team, and one of the guys that was driving the whole thing... Those guys are start-up kind of people, and within the structure of Apple, they may [have been] chafing."

Its unclear if the PA Semi team contributed to the design of the iPad's A4 chip, which is described by Apple as a "custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip."

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