AMD CEO Dirk Meyer Resigns

[Wreckage]

http://www.marketwire.com/press-rel...ns-Mutual-Agreement-With-NYSE-AMD-1378157.htm

Wow! I wonder what's going on.

 

[happy medium]

Can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen?

 

[Wreckage]

Discussion of the CPU ramifications are going on here.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2134091

I feel it affects video pretty hardcore as well.

 

[zerocool84]

You got to him Wreckage.

 

[Wreckage]

You got to him Wreckage.

Actually I heard he got caught buying a GTX580 and they made him step down.


It's too early to tell if this is a big deal or not. The only thing scary about it seems to be that it comes just before they announce their 4Q earnings on the 20th.

 

[DaveSimmons]

They're competing well with video cards, but it's been years since they've competed similarly outside of the "budget" segment for CPUs.

If they were doing better with CPUs, the Sandy Bridge chips might be $50 cheaper and 500 MHz faster at stock.

 

[evolucion8]

Can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen?

Yeah, the heat of giving the competition some headaches, definitively I love competition and if guys like this can't keep up with the technology advances, then better off and inject some new life, nVidia also need something like that (Its current CEO isn't very professional when he talks on the conferences, remeber the "But if they think they're going to hold onto it, they're smoking something hallucinogenic" quote?).

 

[Aristotelian]

Can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen?

I'm pretty sure he wasn't a member of the Anandtech forums - no need for you to feel bad!

 

[Wreckage]

I'm pretty sure he wasn't a member of the Anandtech forums - no need for you to feel bad!

Or was he....

 

[bryanW1995]

Yeah, the heat of giving the competition some headaches, definitively I love competition and if guys like this can't keep up with the technology advances, then better off and inject some new life, nVidia also need something like that (Its current CEO isn't very professional when he talks on the conferences, remeber the "But if they think they're going to hold onto it, they're smoking something hallucinogenic" quote?).

jhh literally built nvidia from nothing into a company with a 10 figure market capitalization. I'm guessing that he's a tad more competent than ANYBODY at amd or just about any other company for that matter. plus he owns too much stock to go down without a fight.

 

[bryanW1995]

Actually I heard he got caught buying a GTX580 and they made him step down.


It's too early to tell if this is a big deal or not. The only thing scary about it seems to be that it comes just before they announce their 4Q earnings on the 20th.

looks like 4q earnings aren't going to change from guidance b/c they released some preliminary info on them with this announcement. Most likely the board lost confidence in him b/c BD isn't going to be as strong as they had hoped. though it's also possible that they wanted to expand/grow faster than he wanted to. hopefully for amd's sake it's B, though based upon recent amd cpu performance I think that A is much more likely.

oh well, hopefully at least BD will be good for seti/F@H/etc...

 

[evolucion8]

jhh literally built nvidia from nothing into a company with a 10 figure market capitalization. I'm guessing that he's a tad more competent than ANYBODY at amd or just about any other company for that matter. plus he owns too much stock to go down without a fight.

Certainly doubt it, AMD technology approach like a small die to fight big die, 6 core processors and Fusion are simply nice works of engineering. Plus AMD's technology portfolio is far more interesting and diverse than anything nVidia currently has. AMD is bleeding but not because of their incompetence, they're still absorbing the ATi's buyout debt among other things. I wouldn't like nVidia or AMD to go down nevertheless.

 

[notty22]

Nvidia CEO was on a short list this year.
10 CEOs On $1 Salaries (Apart From Their $Millions in Stock Options)

The companies earnings show trouble at AMD, and every company including Nvidia has past debt or other deferred debt that effects their quarterly statements.

 

[bryanW1995]

Certainly doubt it, AMD technology approach like a small die to fight big die, 6 core processors and Fusion are simply nice works of engineering. Plus AMD's technology portfolio is far more interesting and diverse than anything nVidia currently has. AMD is bleeding but not because of their incompetence, they're still absorbing the ATi's buyout debt among other things. I wouldn't like nVidia or AMD to go down nevertheless.

I wasn't disparaging AMD, or any other company for that matter. however, anybody who can make $10 BILLION in market cap is a superstar to the Nth degree. How many people have done better in the past 20 years of high-tech? google, dell, apple, and M$ all have/had entrepreneurs at a higher level, but I'm hard-pressed to find anybody else who's company is still successful. and when steve jobs/michael dell/sergey brin/etc call it a career their companies will at best linger on in a diminished capacity. when jhh calls it quits nvidia will probably disappear in a puff of smoke.

 

[thilanliyan]

when jhh calls it quits nvidia will probably disappear in a puff of smoke.

Nah, he'll hire Wreckage (finally) and all will be well.

 

[Wreckage]

Nah, he'll hire Wreckage (finally) and all will be well.

God I hope so. I could use the money.

 

[OCGuy]

Things are not looking good for AMD if BD is a flop. Look for a restructuring or buyout by a major player.

 

[Genx87]

They're competing well with video cards, but it's been years since they've competed similarly outside of the "budget" segment for CPUs.

If they were doing better with CPUs, the Sandy Bridge chips might be $50 cheaper and 500 MHz faster at stock.

It really is pathetic how bad AMD has performed on the CPU side of things. And Dirk was the project lead for the Athlon and subsequent designs I believe. And I think before that he works on Alpha designs. I wonder why he is stepping down? I fear it is because Bulldozer isnt going to come close to sniffing SB

I used to be a huge AMD zealot. But I cant honestly suggest their chips to anybody since Core 2 Duo showed up.

 

[Genx87]

Yeah, the heat of giving the competition some headaches, definitively I love competition and if guys like this can't keep up with the technology advances, then better off and inject some new life, nVidia also need something like that (Its current CEO isn't very professional when he talks on the conferences, remeber the "But if they think they're going to hold onto it, they're smoking something hallucinogenic" quote?).

While Jen is abrasive he has guided his company rather well. Instead of chasing x86 they build Tegra. Tegra is set to become quite relevant in 2011. While Jen did this AMDs management sold Snapdragon to Qualcomm for 60 million bucks and focused on battling Intel in the low end market with Fusion. Think Qualcom has made their money back on snapdragon? Think Fusion is going to dislodge Intel?

 

[AnandThenMan]

Tegra is set to become quite relevant in 2011.

I heard the exact same thing 1 year ago. I remain skeptical.

 

[Wreckage]

I heard the exact same thing 1 year ago. I remain skeptical.

Here yah go.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/19/samsung-nabs-tegra-2-for-galaxy-tab-2-google-makes-tegra-the-ho/

Being the reference design for Android is pretty big.

 

[sawtx]

While Jen did this AMDs management sold Snapdragon to Qualcomm for 60 million bucks and focused on battling Intel in the low end market with Fusion. Think Qualcom has made their money back on snapdragon?

When did AMD have Snapdragon? The deal was for the mobile 3D tech AMD got when they bought ATI.

 

[Genx87]

I heard the exact same thing 1 year ago. I remain skeptical.

Android 3 hardware reference using Tegra 2 will help quite a bit. Looking at many expected tablets and phones for this year. Many of them are using Tegra 2.

 

[Dark Shroud]

Here yah go.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/19/samsung-nabs-tegra-2-for-galaxy-tab-2-google-makes-tegra-the-ho/

Being the reference design for Android is pretty big.

Android 3 hardware reference using Tegra 2 will help quite a bit. Looking at many expected tablets and phones for this year. Many of them are using Tegra 2.

Nvidia got Google to use Tegra2 as the reference for Honey Comb and a few phones, 4-5 that I know of, will be using Tegra2. But the majority of phones will still be using Snap Dragon or what every Samsung is calling the newest chip.

I got excited last year when several tablets & other products were shown using Tegra2. The majority of those have not been released to market. Or in same cases switched to a different chip because Tegra didn't cut it.

 

[Barfo]

If Bulldozer turn out to be less than a massive leap over Phenom we can pretty much kiss goodbye competition in x86 CPUs.