The company's executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer leaves September 8
AMD’s Henri Richard plans to step down from his position as executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer, according to inside sources at AMD and confirmed by CNET. Richard’s resignation takes effect on September 8. AMD has yet to issue an official press release regarding the matter, nor has the company named a suitable replacement.
Richard’s resignation follows last month’s resignation of AMD’s Executive Vice President, Dave Orton. Orton was the former president and chief executive officer of ATI before the merger.
AMD has had a rough year in the CPU and graphics department. Despite a “successful integration” of the two companies, according to Orton, the company faced dramatic delays with its CPUs, chipsets and GPUs.
In its battle with Intel, the company touted the superior native quad-core Barcelona design, but has not launched a single quad-core processor. The company also faced delays with its AMD 690G chipset, which finally launched in February, despite expectations of a 2006 launch. AMD’s HD 2000 series also faced major launch delays, allowing NVIDIA to have a five-month head start in the DirectX 10 markets.
Financially, the company’s debts are mounting up fast after its $5.4 billion purchase of ATI Technologies. AMD’s first quarter loss of $611 million USD left analysts worried. AMD’s second quarter results were not any better, with a $600 million net loss. This forced the company to raise more cash by issuing $2.2 billion Convertible Senior Notes.
There is light at the end of the tunnel, however. AMD’s recent Technology Analyst Day outlined the company’s roadmaps with new technologies and products. The company’s next-generation Fusion architecture and octal-core Sandtiger provides hope in the long run.
In the short run, the company plans to launch Barcelona this quarter and Phenom FX by the end of the year. There’s also a 45nm die shrink with Shanghai and Deneb next year. AMD also managed to snag 25 percent of the DirectX 10 graphics market share, despite not shipping a single DirectX 10 product until May, and shipping mainstream parts in June.
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