AMD: Now Ready To Fuse GPU and CPU Technologies
It's no huge secret that AMD hasn't been shattering sales records or blowing away Wall Street pundits of late. In fact, it's been years since Advanced Micro Devices had the kind of steam behind it that firms like MSI, Intel and Apple are enjoying right now. In a late-breaking report, the Sunnyvale-based company has just announced an all new operating model that centers the organization on four equally critical functions: products, technology, marketing and customers.
From an outsiders perspective, we can't help but be refreshed by this news. For far too long, AMD has simply sat in the background, content with playing second fiddle to the Intels, HPs and ARMs of the world. Regardless of what comes of this, it's just good to know that a new initiative is being approached within the company's walls. According to it, the new structure is designed to "better optimize AMD’s operations to drive industry-leading performance graphics and microprocessors and further integrate the company’s x86 processor and graphics technologies."
Dirk Meyer, AMD's president and CEO, had this to say about the changes: "We are tightening our focus on delivering the winning products and platforms our customers want based on AMD’s industry-leading microprocessor and graphics technologies. The next generation of innovation in the computing industry will be grounded in the fusion of microprocessor and graphics technologies. With these changes, we are putting the right organization in place to help enable the future of computing."
We won't try to read too far between the lines here, but this sounds like two things to us. First, it sounds like ATI is about to become a whole lot more AMD and a whole lot less ATI -- if you catch our drift. Secondly, it genuinely sounds like AMD is ready to play ball with Intel and NVIDIA in the race to revolutionize GPUs. NVIDIA has already proven with Ion that a change is underway, and it's only a matter of time before GPUs are handling the same amount, if not more work than a standard CPU. Look, AMD owns ATI -- why on Earth couldn't it compete in this space? It has years of GPU innovation under its own roof, and we're thrilled to see a little progress being made that'll take advantage of that.
From an outsiders perspective, we can't help but be refreshed by this news. For far too long, AMD has simply sat in the background, content with playing second fiddle to the Intels, HPs and ARMs of the world. Regardless of what comes of this, it's just good to know that a new initiative is being approached within the company's walls. According to it, the new structure is designed to "better optimize AMD’s operations to drive industry-leading performance graphics and microprocessors and further integrate the company’s x86 processor and graphics technologies."
Dirk Meyer, AMD's president and CEO, had this to say about the changes: "We are tightening our focus on delivering the winning products and platforms our customers want based on AMD’s industry-leading microprocessor and graphics technologies. The next generation of innovation in the computing industry will be grounded in the fusion of microprocessor and graphics technologies. With these changes, we are putting the right organization in place to help enable the future of computing."
We won't try to read too far between the lines here, but this sounds like two things to us. First, it sounds like ATI is about to become a whole lot more AMD and a whole lot less ATI -- if you catch our drift. Secondly, it genuinely sounds like AMD is ready to play ball with Intel and NVIDIA in the race to revolutionize GPUs. NVIDIA has already proven with Ion that a change is underway, and it's only a matter of time before GPUs are handling the same amount, if not more work than a standard CPU. Look, AMD owns ATI -- why on Earth couldn't it compete in this space? It has years of GPU innovation under its own roof, and we're thrilled to see a little progress being made that'll take advantage of that.
Meyer organized the company around these four operating teams. The rest of Meyer’s direct reports remain unchanged.
- A products group led by Rick Bergman, 45: This new group is responsible for delivering all of AMD’s platforms and products and aligning the graphics and microprocessor product development groups into a single unified organization. Jeff VerHeul, 50, will head the Processor Solutions Engineering team, to deliver AMD’s platform silicon and improve time-to-market and innovation for near-term roadmaps.
- An Advanced Technology Group, led by Chekib Akrout, 51: This new group will focus on developing AMD’s future technology innovation.
- A marketing group, led by Nigel Dessau, 44: The singular marketing group will drive cohesive and consistent external messaging across all of AMD’s products and platforms.
- A customer group, led by Emilio Ghilardi, 51: The sales organization is responsible for expanding AMD’s customer relationships globally.
