Raja Koduri Discusses Leaving AMD for Intel in Interview

cageymaru

cageymaru

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In an interview with Barron's, Intel Chief Architect, Senior Vice President and GM - Cores & Visual Computing & Edge Computing Solutions, Raja Koduri, discusses the reasons why he left AMD to work at Intel, recruiting Jim Keller, and his 4,500 person graphics team at Intel. Raja Koduri had a vision and he felt that the only company that had the people, assets, and resources to create it was Intel. He recruited Jim Keller with a phone call and discussions about future opportunities at Intel over the next 10 years. The last part of the interview covers his team at Intel and how Intel's roadmap will have the complete product stack from the CPU to the GPU to accelerate AI.

We also have a very rich [AI] accelerator road map. So when the AI really hits the [growth] curve, I believe that we are the only company that will have the full stack of products that cover all the needs from low-power use cases to mega-data-center use cases. We have a really good portfolio of assets. We also have doubled down on the software investments.... So we have a comprehensive AI strategy, and we are excited about the direction we are going there.
 
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I am looking forward to seeing what they start offering, Intel is teasing us with a new GUI for their control panel so getting started on the software end while they work up the hardware is a nice place to begin. I look forward to a 3'rd player in the ring so bring it on!
 
I always wondered how such high position could leave, go with competition, bring talents & etc. and not trigger the non-competition clause in almost all contracts I signed in my career. Those are difficult to enforce and are at the lower levels but I can't imagine it been difficult to prove he used previous resources or contact at that level...

Anyway, good on him, bring something to the market now !
 
He talked with Intel about joining them, for 10 years?

I would be suspect of such a long engagement.
 
Wait is there more to that story, or is that just satire lol.
 
Thanks Cagey. Always nice to read something positive.

A small quote but something to give us hope in relation to another competitor in the discreet field.

"
I want to set the record straight that Intel has a world class design team sitting here. What I’m doing is helping them figure out how to build products that scale up from the low power, mobile domain up to petaflops—the big data center GPUs. Both internally and externally, there’s a lot of excitement from our customers, from enthusiasts, from the market about our entry into discrete graphics in 2020. So, yeah, we are quite excited for that.

"
 
in all honesty i never saw the talent in raja, although he has the expertise in graphics engineering, i think his intel products will flop, i really don't see him bringing a " wow " arch, gave me the vibe of all talk and no walk when he was at AMD.
 
alamox said:
in all honesty i never saw the talent in raja, although he has the expertise in graphics engineering, i think his intel products will flop, i really don't see him bringing a " wow " arch, gives me the vibe of all talk and no walk when he was at AMD.
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Well he seems to be saying in the article that he didn't have the money, assets, manpower, etc at AMD to accomplish what he set out to do. That's why he went to Intel.
 
cageymaru said:
Well he seems to be saying in the article that he didn't have the money, assets, manpower, etc at AMD to accomplish what he set out to do. That's why he went to Intel.
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Right,
and if i had unlimited money and manpower, I'd be awesome at my job (managing this mega rich company obviously) too.
 
Riccochet said:
I can't wait for Intel's over-priced under-performing discrete GPU's.
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Entirely possible given their CPU track record but I'd hope he's paying attention to the current tactics of both sides right now and how overpriced NV products were not enough to offset their other losses. I'd like to believe he's got the experience to not repeat the mistakes of either NV or AMD.
 
I can understand trying to fulfill a dream. But as soon as he creates something Intel can exploit his dream will die.
 
MMitch said:
I always wondered how such high position could leave, go with competition, bring talents & etc. and not trigger the non-competition clause in almost all contracts I signed in my career.
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At this level of money they can hire lawyers. The non-compete clauses are only there to scare the non-millionaire employees.
 
only if nvidia can have new control panel. I guess hell would freeze over that day and that day will be [H]ardest day in nvidia history. For fuck sakes Nvidia. lol
 
MMitch said:
I always wondered how such high position could leave, go with competition, bring talents & etc. and not trigger the non-competition clause in almost all contracts I signed in my career. Those are difficult to enforce and are at the lower levels but I can't imagine it been difficult to prove he used previous resources or contact at that level...

Anyway, good on him, bring something to the market now !
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A lot of those non-competition clauses are frivolous and wouldn't fly in court to begin with. Ultimately they are used as a scaring mechanism. It will also depend on things like your jurisdiction (state) that they would have to sue in.

However, not all non-compete agreements are enforceable. Whether a court will enforce a non-compete agreement depends on the subject employee and the imposed restrictions. First, the employer must determine whether the employee poses a high risk and is in possession of trade secrets or confidential information that gives the employer a competitive advantage. If so, the employer must then consider the reasonableness of the restriction as it relates to the duration, scope, and geographical area.1 For example, the duration of the non-compete restriction should not be excessive compared to the value of confidential information the employee might possess.2 Further, the scope of duties restricted and the geographical area to which those restrictions apply should be limited to the extent necessary to protect the employer.3
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https://www.americanbar.org/groups/...ements-when-employees-leave-work-competition/


EDIT: This guy knows.

Burticus said:
At this level of money they can hire lawyers. The non-compete clauses are only there to scare the non-millionaire employees.
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Also my AMD stock has doubled. Sooo... yeah... suck it Raja. Something tells me you weren't needed.
 
clockdogg said:
So....Skynet will feature 'Intel Inside'. Seems apropos.
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They'll just send a harmless-looking stuffed bunny back in time instead...
b2ss1tx033o01.jpg
 
alamox said:
in all honesty i never saw the talent in raja, although he has the expertise in graphics engineering, i think his intel products will flop, i really don't see him bringing a " wow " arch, gave me the vibe of all talk and no walk when he was at AMD.
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That's the vibe I get too... Its just so much like others Ive worked with in my field...
Perhaps Vega is really all it could be, who knows?
 
MMitch said:
I always wondered how such high position could leave, go with competition, bring talents & etc. and not trigger the non-competition clause in almost all contracts I signed in my career. Those are difficult to enforce and are at the lower levels but I can't imagine it been difficult to prove he used previous resources or contact at that level...
Click to expand...

One of the few good things about California is that non-compete clauses are completely unenforceable in California courts.
 
MMitch said:
I always wondered how such high position could leave, go with competition, bring talents & etc. and not trigger the non-competition clause in almost all contracts I signed in my career. Those are difficult to enforce and are at the lower levels but I can't imagine it been difficult to prove he used previous resources or contact at that level...

Anyway, good on him, bring something to the market now !
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California Supreme Court has long ago ruled that non-competes are against the state constitution. Still doesn't stop companies from trying tho. I've personally told a few hiring managers that and they always gave this confused and surprised look like I just slapped them.
 
Teenk9 said:
California Supreme Court has long ago ruled that non-competes are against the state constitution. Still doesn't stop companies from trying tho. I've personally told a few hiring managers that and they always gave this confused and surprised look like I just slapped them.
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Its a weird arrangement, a non compete.. a friend of mine signed one for a pesticide company, and it boiled down to you can't work in pesticides ever again. It read like overreach. My friend was fired after the products were released... Such a nice company/s.
 
AMD managed to catch Intel in the CPU space despite all the inherent disadvantages Raja laments over. Intel was lazy and allowed AMD to catch up. Nvidia, on the other hand, is not lazy. RTX may be overpriced, and the tech may be a node too early, but Nvidia continues to fire on all cylinders and AMD was unable to close to the gap during Raja's time. They actually fell further behind once his products hit the market. The 290x was largely competitive with the 780 TI, but once Maxwell came out, AMD sunk into a permanent second tier status in perf/w. Raja's vision basically killed AMD's ability to competitively sell GPU's in laptops, and relegated AMD to permanent second place in the performance crown while cutting massively into their GPU margins.

I remember when AMD announced Polaris's performance metrics (before release) and held a "mission accomplished party" with Raja smoking a cigar. What a joke.
 
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