Nearly three years ago, Apple made news when it poached a prominent Samsung executive in charge of next-generation battery development. Fast forward to now and that same battery guru has been poached again — only this time by a major carmaker.
Soonho Ahn joined Apple as its global head of battery developments in December 2018. It was noted at the time that Apple was already a customer of Samsung SDI where Ahn was a vice president, and their hire hinted further that Apple had ambitions to bring battery development in-house.
And yes, Apple has long been rumored to be developing something like an electric vehicle with full self-driving features. Did Ahn work on this project at Apple and not the typical tech batteries we’re familiar with in iPhones and MacBooks?
Either way, it turns out it is a car manufacturer with EV ambitions that lured Ahn from Apple. From the translated source:
The Volkswagen Group has wooed two important experts in battery technologies at Apple and BMW. This underlines the growing importance of this business for Wolfsburger.
Volkswagen confirmed that it has signed Apple’s head of battery development, Soonho Ahn.
Ahn’s LinkedIn profile confirms that reporting:
More
- Apple now believes it can ship self-driving EV as soon as 2025, Bloomberg reports
- Morgan Stanley analysts think Apple’s self-driving EV ‘must be a shared service and not an owned car’
- Apple Car Guide
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