AMD CTO Changes

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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We just got word that Eric Demers, CTO (gfx) at AMD, is leaving AMD. I have known Eric for many years and he will be missed by us here at HardOCP. Godspeed Eric. More details to follow.
 
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Wow, he's only a 3rd degree connection away from me on LinkedIn (from that link you gave)! Good luck to Eric's future endeavors.
 
Like rats to a sinking ship -- seems like every other month there is another exodus
 
Hmmm.... I love Austin. I'd like to work for AMD if I could move there >_<
 
boden11 said:
Like rats to a sinking ship -- seems like every other month there is another exodus
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Why is that every time AMD launches something, someone's crying "going out of business" and "sinking ship"?

AMD buys ATI. Oh noes they've done it now!

AMD goes to Global Foundry. They won't last a year!

AMD cannot keep up with Core i3/5/7, I'll give them a month at most.

So they let Eric Demers go. Like Kyle says, Godspeed and good luck in future ventures. Another CTO will replace him and the band will go on marching. The end.
 
Azhar said:
So they let Eric Demers go. Like Kyle says, Godspeed and good luck in future ventures. Another CTO will replace him and the band will go on marching. The end.
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Eric resigned.
 
Azhar said:
Why is that every time AMD launches something, someone's crying "going out of business" and "sinking ship"?

AMD buys ATI. Oh noes they've done it now!

AMD goes to Global Foundry. They won't last a year!

AMD cannot keep up with Core i3/5/7, I'll give them a month at most.

So they let Eric Demers go. Like Kyle says, Godspeed and good luck in future ventures. Another CTO will replace him and the band will go on marching. The end.
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how many senior execs have jumped ship in the last couple of years?
 
Says it is for personal goals. My thoughts are he is taking a sabbatical from the field to work on some other part of his life. Perhaps he was being stretched too far for his tastes or he felt he accomplished enough in this field. Maybe he has a deep personal conviction to become a volunteer at a charity. Or perhaps he will stay in the field and he is going to start his own projects. At this point it is all conjecture.

In any case, good luck to him. I hope he has even more success in his next venture.
 
DarthBeavis said:
how many senior execs have jumped ship in the last couple of years?
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They needed change. It's not like they've wowed us with any CPUs since the X2 and the whole x86 war has long been over. The change in their GPU department worries me, though. The one place where AMD has consistently impressed and innovated has lost the CTO :/

Any reason why, Kyle? I know you've said you'll have more info. If you do just post it here. I'm interested in just what the hell is going on over there. Seems like one step in the right direction and one step backwards.
 
NoOther said:
Says it is for personal goals. My thoughts are he is taking a sabbatical from the field to work on some other part of his life. Perhaps he was being stretched too far for his tastes or he felt he accomplished enough in this field. Maybe he has a deep personal conviction to become a volunteer at a charity. Or perhaps he will stay in the field and he is going to start his own projects. At this point it is all conjecture.

In any case, good luck to him. I hope he has even more success in his next venture.
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No, what we wrote is NOT conjecture. It is based on facts. Just cannot tell you the entire story at this moment. Or maybe he left to be on that Big Foot show?
 
I'm sure we will find out eventually, whenever they decide to make it public.
 
I hope he goes to Apple.

Why? I dont know. Just wanted to sound smart. lol
 
DarthBeavis said:
I believe AMD's competitors are NVIDIA an Intel.
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That wasn't my point. HP's ship is still floating just fine despite the many changing of hands of late. Changes are good for companies or they'll stagnate.
 
I hope he's going to an ARM manufacturer.

I wonder how nasty his non-compete clause was.
 
Azhar said:
Why is that every time AMD launches something, someone's crying "going out of business" and "sinking ship"?
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Well, logic dictates that the more times you guess and the more you keep on guessing the higher chances that one day youll eventually be right! It's called the semi-accurate method.
 
If anyone is interested in this story, they were talking about it on efnet pretty heavy this afternoon and I am guessing the next couple of nights. Lot of the big players from Taiwan, HK, UK and here in the US are in there. All the exclusive motherboard and video card guys, L2N guys, ES cpu guys that get the stuff well before the hardware sites do. They were talking about AMD's graphic card pipeline and some very scary rumors those guys had been hearing. The guy the were talking a lot about was some some guy at AMD named Eric Demers that had recently let slip that there was going to be a major interruption in the pipeline, whatever that means. Makes you think that with all the changes, the future of smart phones, tablets, the challenges of spending these hundreds of millions of dollars in R and D, you can't help but wonder if / when they decide to skip a year or two and do not release a new high-end video card but instead take those vast resources and put them into different R and D instead. This is what they have been talking about. A handful of the ops, like Kyle admitted they knew a lot more but were not at liberty to talk about it. They all basically said, our world as far as high-end graphics cards would be changing and not for the better but then they said, it was to be expected. That companies had to gamble and make the best decisions moving forward to meet emerging markets and consumer expectations, that a company like AMD could not wage a multi-front tech war on all sides of the battle, whatever that meant. blah blah. Anyways. I am sure more info will come over over the next year.
 
God speed Eric, I hope you are able to fulfill your lifelong goals and be happy with all you have accomplished, thank you for moving the GPU department in AMD in the right direction for as long as you have been there with them.
 
He's going to start a new company 4dfx!11!one!1!oneone!111!!
 
SixFootDuo said:
That companies had to gamble and make the best decisions moving forward to meet emerging markets and consumer expectations, that a company like AMD could not wage a multi-front tech war on all sides of the battle, whatever that meant. blah blah. Anyways. I am sure more info will come over over the next year.
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I don't think this is too much of a surprise to anyone. I fully believe AMD is going to continue on a path to incorporate the graphics on the CPU so they can tailor to more portable devices. As for whether that is better for us? Who knows, initially I doubt it, but over time it might turn out better. Perhaps Eric did not agree with this strategy at this point and left at the top of his career.
 
Does this have anything to do with the blue pill marketing strategy for AMD 1GHZ cards?
 
Change ups are good. The new CEO's recent refocusing of AMD has done wonders for their stock.

35% increase in just over 2 months?

AMD is in a good position for 2012. Trinity, Discrete graphics will make them profitable this year for sure.
 
Wow and HP is surely the shining star in the crown jewel that is the technology sector.

We are making tablets, no we're not, I mean yes we are I mean no we're not...

Azhar said:
About the same amount that jumped HP's ship?
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good luck to him.

Anyone know how many former members of the ATI workforce are still with AMD?
 
Was he in charge of drivers? Heh. :D

I've seen his name mentioned for years around the H... good luck with whatever you're doing, Mr. Demers.
 
IRSmurf said:
I hope he's going to an ARM manufacturer.

I wonder how nasty his non-compete clause was.
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If he goes to work for a company based in California his non-compete will be unenforceable so it doesn't matter. Guess where both NVIDIA and Intel are headquartered? I know he said he isn't going to either company, I'm simply pointing out that he could certainly work another company in the industry if he wanted to.
 
SixFootDuo said:
That companies had to gamble and make the best decisions moving forward to meet emerging markets and consumer expectations, that a company like AMD could not wage a multi-front tech war on all sides of the battle, whatever that meant. blah blah. Anyways. I am sure more info will come over over the next year.
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I was about to say something similar as I read your post. I think its true, that AMD does not have the resources to focus on multiple fronts. Sacrifices have to be made if AMD wants to compete in the mobile computing segment and between mobile computing and discrete graphic chip, I think its pretty obvious which would take the back seat.
 
boden11 said:
Wow and HP is surely the shining star in the crown jewel that is the technology sector.

We are making tablets, no we're not, I mean yes we are I mean no we're not...
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Tablets are the very very least of HP's priorities. HP thrive off of laptop, desktop, servers, printers and consultation services.

HP might have hurt themselves if they got rid of their laptop and computer market like they planned to a couple months back, but their consultation, server and business sector will keep them well above the water.

AMD still have powerful presence in the graphics market, especially in laptops and business workstation computers. They're also a favorite among datacenters who wants servers on the cheap and plenty.
 
I really wonder how you guys pronounce his familly name in english.... must be hilarous :)
 
I lol that the enthusiast community always jumps to the most sinister/fanboi opinion supporting possibilities whenever someone leaves a job.

There are many many reasons that people leave jobs, even top exec ones, that have nothing to do with the health of the company.

For all we know right now he has decided to follow his lifelong dream of becoming a professional poet :p

Or more likely he has some personal ambition to create/lead/participate in something that just doesn't fit into AMDs business model/area/scope so he has to go elsewhere to fulfil that.
 
"...has decided leave [COMPANY] to pursue other opportunities. " in corporate lingo means: "is no longer needed/wanted here and is not aligned with our current business model."

Not a good sign.
 
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