Apple CEO Tim Cook to Become Executive Chairman as He Steps Down

Tim Cook, who has led Apple for more than 15 years, will relinquish the chief‑executive role on 1 September 2026 and move to the position of executive chairman, remaining on the company’s board. His tenure, the longest in Apple’s history, follows the operational overhaul he began under Steve Jobs and has overseen the firm’s expansion into services and AI‑driven hardware.

In his final earnings call on 30 July, Cook highlighted the surge in demand for high‑bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI chips, describing memory pricing as a “hundred‑year flood.” He said Apple will pay significantly more for memory in the September quarter and expects prices to keep rising, prompting the company to explore sourcing DRAM from Chinese suppliers—a request that U.S. officials have been urged to block. The comments were taken as a positive signal for memory makers such as Micron Technology, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, whose products are in tight supply due to AI infrastructure growth and limited advanced‑packaging capacity.