Why Tesla, Inc. Hired Jim Keller Last Year

Back in January 2016, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) confirmed to Electrek that it had hired famous chip architect Jim Keller. Keller's most prominent accomplishments were helping Apple kick off its own custom chip ambitions with the original A4 that powered the iPhone 4 in 2010, as well as the subsequent A5. The Mac maker scored Keller through its 2008 acquisition of PA Semi for $278 million. Keller left Apple in 2012 for a second stint at AMD (NASDAQ: AMD), helping lead development of its Zen architecture. Shortly after picking up Keller, Tesla proceeded to hire his former colleague Peter Bannon, as well as other high-level chip engineers.

This is probably obvious, but you don't assemble a team of rock star chip architects unless you're interested in designing custom chips for specialized purposes. Over a year and a half after recruiting Keller, we're now learning that Tesla is doing exactly that.

Image source: Tesla.

Source: Fool.com