meyer

AMD reorg merges microprocessor, graphics units

Advanced Micro Devices has launched a reorganization that will see the chipmaker's microprocessor and graphics units merged into a single group.

The products group--one of four new groups announced Wednesday--will be headed by graphics chip executive Rick Bergman, who joined AMD after its $5.4 billion acquisition of graphics chip company ATI in 2006. The chipmaker said the other three groups would focus on technology, marketing, and customers.

"The next generation of innovation in the computing industry will be grounded in the fusion of microprocessor and graphics technologies," AMD CEO Dirk Meyer said in a statement. "… Read more

AMD's Meyer talks spin-off, Intel, small laptops

Advanced Micro Devices' CEO Dirk Meyer is confident about his company's ability to compete--especially with Intel--and believes a new focus on processors for smaller laptops (and possibly a Netbook chip) will be key.

During a phone interview Thursday, Meyer also addressed the finalization of its deal to spin off its manufacturing operations. As planned, AMD will become a chip-design company and spin its manufacturing operations off to a new entity tentatively called The Foundry Company. AMD will own 34.2 percent of the new manufacturing company, while the Advanced Technology Investment Co. will own the rest. ATIC is an … Read more

AMD CEO sees Netbooks going away

Advanced Micro Devices' chief executive predicts that Netbooks will eventually disappear. This thinking, though obviously favorable to AMD's strategy, isn't completely at odds with Intel's.

"The distinction between what is a Netbook and what is a notebook is going to go away," AMD CEO Dirk Meyer said Thursday in the company's earnings conference call.

"There will be a continuum of price points and form factors," he said.

"Given the way Netbooks are configured today, consumers who want a notebook at those kind of (low) price points have to compromise and as … Read more

AMD reports smaller loss, better revenues

Advanced Micro Devices reported a much smaller loss for the third quarter and better-than-expected revenue.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker reported third-quarter 2008 revenue of $1.776 billion, including process technology license revenue of $191 million.

Revenue increased 32 percent compared to the second quarter of 2008 and 14 percent compared to the third quarter of 2007.

A positive surprise is the net loss, which was significantly smaller than expected. The company reported a net loss of $67 million, or 11 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a third-quarter loss of 40 cents per share on $… Read more

Report: AMD will split into separate companies

Update on July 24, 5:50 p.m. PDT with additional information and corrections.

UPDATE: According to Kirk Ladendorf, the author of The Austin American-Statesman article, the Statesman will issue an update, likely sometime during the week of July 28. In short, it appears that AMD's contention that Dirk Meyer was misquoted is true.

Advanced Micro Devices will split into separate companies as it spins off its manufacturing operations, according to a report.

The Austin American-Statesman had one of the most unambiguous statements to date when it interviewed AMD's new CEO, Dirk Meyer, last week: "Meyer says … Read more

AMD CEO discusses plan to compete with Intel Atom chip

Advanced Micro Devices has its eye on the ultra-low-cost notebook market. Dirk Meyer--the company's new CEO--and other executives discussed this and ways to make the company profitable during the company's earnings conference call Thursday.

Meyer--promoted to CEO on Thursday--made it clear that AMD is serious about the so-called Netbook market, where Intel's Atom processor has been the most successful so far. (Though Intel CEO Paul Otellini made a perplexing comment Tuesday about the Atom processor.)

Netbooks have two hallmarks: they are typically under $400 and are extremely small and light. The Asus Eee PC is the most … Read more

AMD's Ruiz steps off the roller coaster

Hector Ruiz accomplished many important things during his tenure as the CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, but no executive can escape the bottom line.

In just more than six years with Ruiz as the leader of AMD, the chip company has lost a staggering $6.3 billion according to generally accepted accounting principles. He announced plans to step down Thursday as part of what the company is calling a planned succession to new CEO Dirk Meyer, even though Ruiz was under the impression as recently as December 2007 that he would be around this entire year.

"A lot has … Read more

Ruiz out at AMD, Dirk Meyer new CEO

This post was updated at around 2:45 and 3:40 p.m. PDT with additional information from the earnings conference call.

Advanced Micro Devices CEO Hector Ruiz is stepping down from the helm of the troubled chip company, and Dirk Meyer is taking over.

Ruiz announced the leadership change Thursday during AMD's second-quarter financial earnings conference call. He will remain as executive chairman, but Meyer will immediately take over as the sole executive leader of AMD. "The time is right to turn the company over to a new leader."

Ruiz announced last year that Meyer was the designated successor … Read more

Stacks of wax from the backs of the racks

My brother and I used to walk up to our local drug store and buy LP records from a rack next to the candy bars. One day he bought Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and I bought the live Rush album Exit Stage Left. When we opened them, I became jealous of the stickers and posters in Dark Side, so we arranged a trade, which seemed fair because the Rush record had two LPs in it. He became a Rush fan, I became a Floyd fan, and the rest of our lives followed from that fateful decision. (… Read more