Meta has hired another senior executive from Apple’s AI division, even as the company takes a pause on its large-scale recruitment drive, according to Bloomberg. The move shows Meta’s continued push in the AI race while Apple struggles to retain key talent in this field.
According to people aware of the matter, Frank Chu, who played a major role in Apple’s AI efforts related to cloud infrastructure, training and search, is set to join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs. At Apple, he was closely involved in running large language models on the company’s servers and contributed to the development of Siri’s search features as well as other entertainment services.
Chu’s switch is being seen as one of the bigger blows to Apple, as he was a senior figure reporting to Benoit Dupin, the executive responsible for Apple’s AI infrastructure. Dupin, in turn, reports to John Giannandrea, Apple’s overall AI chief. Chu will now take charge of a new infrastructure-focused team within Meta Superintelligence Labs.
This is not an isolated case. Since July, several members of Apple’s AI group have moved to Meta, starting with Ruoming Pang, who built Apple’s AI models team. Pang was offered a package reportedly worth $200 million by Meta. Following him, engineers Tom Gunter, Mark Lee, Bowen Zhang and Yun Zhu also left Apple. Chu is now the sixth senior member to make the switch.
While Meta is adding Chu to its ranks, the company is also slowing down on new hires after months of rapid expansion. In an internal memo seen by Bloomberg, Meta told its hiring managers that recruitment across Superintelligence Labs would be paused temporarily, except for business-critical roles. The note added that the step would allow the leadership to “thoughtfully plan our 2026 headcount growth” and ensure hiring stays aligned with top priorities.
Alexandr Wang, who now leads Meta’s AI division following a recent reshuffle, posted on social media that the company is “investing more and more into Meta Superintelligence Labs.” Meta recently reorganised its AI teams into four sections under Wang’s supervision.
For Apple, however, the departure of AI executives has created uncertainty. The company, already seen as lagging behind rivals in AI, has delayed a major Siri upgrade and is now even considering the use of third-party AI models instead of relying only on its own technology. These internal struggles, combined with the talent drain, have raised questions about Apple’s ability to keep pace in the fast-changing AI race.
