Will Apple resume aggressive talent poaching from Tesla for a new hardware or mobility project?

In a recent long-form conversation, Elon Musk described what he called a “war for talent” during the period when Apple was pursuing its now-canceled electric vehicle initiative, Project Titan. According to Musk, Apple recruiters aggressively targeted engineers and executives at Tesla, offering double salaries without interviews in an effort to rapidly build an EV division. Musk said the recruitment pressure became so intense that Tesla employees eventually stopped answering calls altogether. While Apple ultimately abandoned its car project, Musk noted that the broader assumption—that talent from leading tech companies automatically guarantees success—has since proven flawed. The uncertainty now lies in whether Apple’s growing investments in AI, chips, robotics, or other hardware-adjacent fields will prompt a renewed wave of high-profile talent raids from companies like Tesla, or whether Apple will rely more heavily on internal development and targeted acquisitions rather than large-scale poaching.