AMD announced a major executive shake-up Monday as it tries to rebuild its ailing business. President and COO Dirk Meyer said the company is accelerating a transformation by bolstering its management team for the x86 microprocessor and graphics businesses. But some analysts said it may be too little, too late.
"Placing experienced leaders in new, more focused roles will enhance our execution and progress toward sustained profitability and long-term success," Meyer said. "The creation of a centralized engineering organization aligns and focuses AMD's world-class engineers and intellectual-property portfolio on the strong business opportunities in front of us."
Some In, Some Out
As part of the shuffle, 24-year AMD veteran Randy Allen is changing hats. Allen was most recently responsible for AMD's server and workstation division and previously oversaw microprocessor engineering, including the successful introductions of the AMD Opteron and AMD Athlon 64 processors.
In his new role as senior vice president of the computing solutions group, Allen reports directly to Meyer and is responsible for the development and management of AMD's portfolio of consumer and commercial microprocessor solutions and platforms. Mario Rivas, formerly executive vice president of computing solutions, has left the company to pursue other opportunities, according to AMD.
"AMD is in a precarious situation right now from a business standpoint and it has to take some drastic measures," said Brian Matus, vice president of market research at IC Insights. "I am surprised there haven't been more moves. I think AMD had to take some cost-cutting measures and other measures that put them in a position to restructure the business and possibly even set it up for a potential sale in the future."
New Blood in Central Engineering
Meanwhile, the newly formed central engineering organization will be co-led by Chekib Akrout, who is joining AMD, and Jeff VerHeul, corporate vice president of design engineering at AMD....

More...