AMD merges graphics, microprocessor operations

[Mickie]

May 6, 2009, 07:41 PM — IDG News Service —

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday announced it was consolidating the operations of disparate business units in the company.

The intent behind the restructuring is to bring its microprocessor and graphics technologies under one roof for future integration in systems and chips, said Drew Prairie, an AMD spokesman.

Merging the CPU and graphics units brings more operational efficiency than when the units operated separately, Prairie said. The new structure aligns product teams and creates clear lines of leadership across the technology development and sales and marketing teams, Prairie said. No layoffs are happening as a result of the restructuring, Prairie said.

The company also has restructured operations around four new groups. The products group will be responsible for delivering graphics and microprocessor products, and will also be responsible for chip design. The group will be led by Rick Bergman, a senior vice president at AMD who previously ran the graphics product group. The other groups include the marketing group, the customer service group and the Advanced Technology Group, which will focus on future technology development.

The internal changes are an attempt by the company to help it reach profitability after more than two fiscal years of losses. The company also recently spun off its manufacturing assets to GlobalFoundries in order to cut manufacturing costs and focus on chip design.

The restructuring also merges the ATI graphics business unit into AMD's mainstream operations. ATI operated as a separate business unit after AMD acquired the company for US$5.4 billion in 2006. However, the acquisition hasn't shown the financial or technology benefits AMD expected to see when it announced the purchase.

Soon after the acquisition of ATI, AMD said it would develop a microprocessor that combined a graphics processing unit and CPU on a single chip. Late last year, the company delayed the release of a CPU-GPU chip from 2009 to 2011, citing development concerns and economies of scale.

But the ATI brand won't go away after its operations are merged inside AMD, Prairie said. The company will continue to sell graphics cards under the ATI brand.

AMD also announced that Randy Allen, senior vice president of the computing solutions group, was leaving the company. Allen was previously responsible for AMD's chip products, including microprocessors and platforms.

http://www.itworld.com/business/6755...sor-operations

[Beagle]

Nije ti neka novost, o AMD Fusion se vec duuugo shushka....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Fusion

[Mickie]

Ne radi se ovde o Fusion procsorima. Radi se o tome da je spajanje AMD-a i ATi-ja konacno zavrseno. Sada imaju jedan razvojni tim, i jedna su kompanija.

[Mickie]

AMD shifts executives, naming head of all products
Changes part of plan to unite processor, graphics development

By Kirk Ladendorf
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, May 07, 2009

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. revamped its senior executive ranks Wednesday, putting Rick Bergman, who formerly ran its graphics business, in charge of all of the company's computer chip product development.

The move reflects AMD's continuing push to have its computer processor and graphics chip operations work closely together on common platforms and new chips that combine processor and graphics functions.

As part of the reorganization, Randy Allen, a well-liked veteran executive who headed the company's computing solutions group, chose to leave the company.

CEO Dirk Meyer said the new organization is "tightening our focus" on product development to get processor and graphics development working closely together.

"The next generation of computing industry will be grounded in the fusion of microprocessor and graphics technologies," Meyer said in a statement. "With these changes, we are putting the right organization in place to help enable the future of computing."

Bergman, 45, will run AMD's product development. He is a Silicon Valley-based executive who had been with ATI Technologies Inc. since 2001. AMD bought the graphics chipmaker in 2006.

As part of his new job, Bergman will move to Austin, which is home to many of the company's senior executives, including Meyer. AMD employs about 2,100 people in Austin.

Jeff VerHeul, 50, who had been a co-director of AMD's central engineering group, will head the processor solutions engineering team under Bergman. David Wang will head the graphics engineering team.

Chekib Akrout, 51, a former longtime IBM Corp. executive, will head the advanced technology group, which will work on the company's long-term technology development, including the Bulldozer high-performance processor core project, which is scheduled to become a product in 2011.

Nigel Dessau, 44, who moved to AMD from Sun Microsystems Inc. last year, becomes head of a consolidated marketing group that will work with processors and graphics chips.

And Emilio Ghilardi, 51, who joined the company last year from Hewlett-Packard Co., will head the customer group that includes AMD's sales organization.

The reorganization follows the February spinoff of AMD's chip manufacturing business into GlobalFoundries. Global-

Foundries, which runs two former AMD factories in Germany and has plans to build a third factory in upstate New York, plans to make chips for AMD and other companies.

Analyst Nathan Brookwood with Insight 64 said the new organization gives AMD "cleaner lines of authority and accountability" in its senior ranks.

"If you want fused products, you probably should have more fusion in the management structure," Brookwood said.

Since buying ATI, AMD has been pushing more collaborative development of graphics and processor products to meet the needs of some major computer makers.

One result of that collaborative development is the Fusion project, which is scheduled to deliver processors that incorporate on-chip graphics capabilities in 2011. The company has been putting together computer design platforms that tightly integrate its processor and graphics chips since late 2007.

http://www.statesman.com/business/co...7/0507AMD.html