Jim Keller leaves AMD

[USER8000]

So he was barely at AMD initially a year or two and left just as the original Athlon was released and years before the Athlon 64,was at Apple for 4 years and left years before the culmination of his work with Apple custom cores and was at AMD for THREE years and now has left.

Yet,this is being spun by people as doom and gloom.

Some of you really come off as tabloid readers of papers like the Daily Mail and the National Enquirer.

Sensationalism.

Let's look at the Anandtech article when he left Apple:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6129/apple-a4a5-designer-k8-lead-architect-jim-keller-returns-to-amd

There is NO mention of his replacement.

Only two and a half months later did we hear who might be replacing him:
https://mobile.twitter.com/krewell/status/256501777627742208

Oh! Noes! Apple had not planned his successor,their chips are doomed,its rats off a sinking ship,they must have fired him....

Let's not get facts in the way of tabloid level sensationalism.

 

[inf64]

Ehh... I don't really think so... Keller tends to come and go for major, breakthrough designs, and then leave one the chip's been taped out. I mean he left after the (breakthrough) K7/Athlon, but AMD rode on with the evolutionary K8.

That is the 1st thing that came to my mind also! The guys just moves a lot and likes challenges. Now having said that we have no idea how will Zen perform in the real world once it is launched, let's hope for the best.

 

[Gikaseixas]

The same people that are always wrong are still wrong.

http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327734

Your post is being ignored by the naysayers / shills as expected
He was obviously a great asset but he just had this project to complete. People in the know have confirmed it.

Just lets wait and see how Zen will perform

 

[eton975]

Your post is being ignored by the naysayers / shills as expected
He was obviously a great asset but he just had this project to complete. People in the know have confirmed it.

Just lets wait and see how Zen will perform

For some people, any action with the word 'AMD' in the same sentence means said action is now suddenly a terrible idea and AMD should have known better. Even if AMD is just doing what other companies do! You didn't see people screaming bloody murder when he left Apple!

I mean let's not get too hyped up about Zen but cmon, Keller leaving after the design's finished isn't gonna impact how it does.

 

[ninaholic37]

Your post is being ignored by the naysayers / shills as expected

I read it, but it seemed to be just comments/theories by random analysts and nothing official from AMD, so not much different than reading the posts here.

 

[AtenRa]

If Keller's departure was planned and executed by Keller of his own volition then it would have been communicated to management well in advance of today.

In this industry, anyone in an org chart position at Keller's level would have communicated to his chain of command his intentions of leaving the company at least 4-6 weeks in advance. Anything less would be absolutely unprofessional by any measure of a business standard.

The fact that AMD had little option but to fill the vacant with the CTO, versus taking the opportunity to promote one of Keller's direct-reports in advance of Keller's departure says a lot.

Everything here points to this being a top-down decision. The decision makers could not coordinate the promotion of Keller's subordinate in advance of communicating to Keller that he was about to be departing the company, businesses cannot and do not function that way for a good reason.

So I'm with Phynaz on this one. I doubt Keller knew he was leaving the company when he woke up that morning. It was probably just as much news to him as it was to the rest of his organization. But it probably was not news to Mark Papermaster or Lisa Su as they were probably involved in the decision to boot Keller.

The question to ask is why was Keller booted? It could range from something professionally egregious to simple insubordination or an act of defiance that was grounds for immediate termination (which never happens at that level of management, but he would be told he either resigns on the spot or will be terminated thereafter).

It would be odd if the decision was in any way related to Zen. You don't fire chief architects on the basis of timeline slips or failure to meet performance targets with first silicon samples. So I really doubt this change is an indicator of Zen's performance or timeline.

But, had Keller decided to quit, he'd have given AMD his 4 or 6 week notice (it is not a 2 week notice at his level in the org chart) and the press release itself would have noted that Keller was staying on for a period of time to assist in the transition from himself to whoever was being appointed to the position.

If he really did just up and quit the company cold turkey with no advance notice, well that scenario would then say very dark things about AMD (in which case, questions about Zen would then become germane to his departure).

Just because we heard(read) the news today, doesn't mean the actual date both parties (AMD and Keller) communicated to each other the departure of Keller wasn't 4-6 weeks ago or even earlier.

 

[Fjodor2001]

Ehh... I don't really think so... Keller tends to come and go for major, breakthrough designs, and then leave one the chip's been taped out. I mean he left after the (breakthrough) K7/Athlon, but AMD rode on with the evolutionary K8.

That is the 1st thing that came to my mind also! The guys just moves a lot and likes challenges. Now having said that we have no idea how will Zen perform in the real world once it is launched, let's hope for the best.

This is what I think too.

I have to say I kind of envy the guy, being able to jump from one cool project to the next like that, taking part in the most interesting phases of each project.

Also, his track record is quite amazing (Athlon, Athlon 64, Apple A4 and A5, ...). So I guess that's what's given him the opportunity to pretty much pick and choose any project he wants to head and work on, and what phase(es) of that project to participate in.

 

[CHADBOGA]

This is what I think too.

I have to say I kind of envy the guy, being able to jump from one cool project to the next like that, taking part in the most interesting phases of each project.

Also, his track record is quite amazing (Athlon, Athlon 64, Apple A4 and A5, ...). So I guess that's what's given him the opportunity to pretty much pick and choose any project he wants to head and work on, and what phase(es) of that project to participate in.

LOL

Shintai's signature quote is getting funnier with every passing week.

 

[dark zero]

Seems that Keller left the project up to Zen+ and maybe the A72 compatible, pretty similar thing that happened with Phenom...
They were supposed to enter to SMT without cores... They screwed up with Bulldozer.

As for GPU, they easily has Artic Islands and it's sucesor.

The big problem is after that, what they have. Even worse, Intel can screw up nVIDIA and AMD eventually on the GPU department since there is no one competent to stand against Intel (actually there is Power 8), but it's limited as hell.

 

[Idontcare]

Just because we heard(read) the news today, doesn't mean the actual date both parties (AMD and Keller) communicated to each other the departure of Keller wasn't 4-6 weeks ago or even earlier.

Yeah, you're probably right.

In the history of AMD's announcements of departing employees, there has always been nothing but upside to come from it.

Who am I to lend a bit of experience, or logic, to the interpretation of yet-another press release regarding the departure of an employee deemed important enough to warrant a press release regarding their departure?

Its all sunshine and rainbows from here out for AMD. Intel is prolly crappen their pants already.

 

[Fjodor2001]

Yeah, you're probably right.

In the history of AMD's announcements of departing employees, there has always been nothing but upside to come from it.

Who am I to lend a bit of experience, or logic, to the interpretation of yet-another press release regarding the departure of an employee deemed important enough to warrant a press release regarding their departure?

Its all sunshine and rainbows from here out for AMD. Intel is prolly crappen their pants already.

Seriously, before you said that Jim Keller was "only one guy" and that his presence at AMD was more or less unimportant for their R&D. Now that he's leaving (for a reason we don't know, possible some new interesting project), you say it's all doom and gloom for AMD. That despite that he previously was deemed unimportant.

You need to make up your mind...

 

[iunlock]

Interesting timing don't you think?
Wasn't there some big players interested in gulping up AMD? Two big names...

Everything happens for a reason, but I have a strong feeling that it has to do with some kind of buyout/merging of the company. Perfect time for Keller to move on...

We'll have to wait and see....

 

[frozentundra123456]

Perf crown does not matter much for cpus. It's price/performance. Because cpus are so central, a majority of users are getting systems with them already inside. The companies building these systems aren't wooed by crowns.

I don't get where all this doubt comes from about Zen. It seems only common sense that it will be competitive. They could have minutely modified bulldozer on a smaller process and been competitive. The process change alone would be significant for performance

Intel hasn't exactly been making huge strides. So their mainstream is well within reach. The question is their 6 core up offerings. If things work out we'll see those replace the mainstream in price

This news has no real bearing in Amd at all.what would be strange is if he stayed much longer

AMD is already the low priced alternative. It is working out real well for them isn't it? And if Zen is half as good as the hype is claiming, we only have to look at what AMD tried to charge for the 9570 when it first came out to see what the pricing will be like.

 

[eton975]

AMD is already the low priced alternative. It is working out real well for them isn't it? And if Zen is half as good as the hype is claiming, we only have to look at what AMD tried to charge for the 9570 when it first came out to see what the pricing will be like.

Thing is, they're probably not gonna be able to beat Intel(1/10R&D budget), but very optimistically, they'll be able to get Ivy/near-Haswell performance, should you believe their slides (diminishing returns the more you spend on R&D in the CPU industry?).

That combined with Intel's brand recognition (fanboys) it'll probably still be a good bit less, so as to entice the fanboys over to AMD.

 

[ShintaiDK]

If AMD slides was to be believed. AMD would already be 3x faster or more than Intel by now, if we begin from the day when AMD claimed Phenom was 40-50% faster than Core 2.

But again, slides are cheap. R&D isnt.

 

[ShintaiDK]

If Keller's departure was planned and executed by Keller of his own volition then it would have been communicated to management well in advance of today.

In this industry, anyone in an org chart position at Keller's level would have communicated to his chain of command his intentions of leaving the company at least 4-6 weeks in advance. Anything less would be absolutely unprofessional by any measure of a business standard.

The fact that AMD had little option but to fill the vacant with the CTO, versus taking the opportunity to promote one of Keller's direct-reports in advance of Keller's departure says a lot.

Everything here points to this being a top-down decision. The decision makers could not coordinate the promotion of Keller's subordinate in advance of communicating to Keller that he was about to be departing the company, businesses cannot and do not function that way for a good reason.

So I'm with Phynaz on this one. I doubt Keller knew he was leaving the company when he woke up that morning. It was probably just as much news to him as it was to the rest of his organization. But it probably was not news to Mark Papermaster or Lisa Su as they were probably involved in the decision to boot Keller.

The question to ask is why was Keller booted? It could range from something professionally egregious to simple insubordination or an act of defiance that was grounds for immediate termination (which never happens at that level of management, but he would be told he either resigns on the spot or will be terminated thereafter).

It would be odd if the decision was in any way related to Zen. You don't fire chief architects on the basis of timeline slips or failure to meet performance targets with first silicon samples. So I really doubt this change is an indicator of Zen's performance or timeline.

But, had Keller decided to quit, he'd have given AMD his 4 or 6 week notice (it is not a 2 week notice at his level in the org chart) and the press release itself would have noted that Keller was staying on for a period of time to assist in the transition from himself to whoever was being appointed to the position.

If he really did just up and quit the company cold turkey with no advance notice, well that scenario would then say very dark things about AMD (in which case, questions about Zen would then become germane to his departure).

Well said.

 

[dark zero]

And now there are rumors floating on the web that Nintendo Nx might get delayed due some big changes...

Seems that they might leave AMD and don't be surprised if Sony and MS decides to deliver an Ps 4.5 and a Xbox One 2.0 with Intel Lower clocked Quad Core or a higher clocked Quad Core solution adding a GT940M as dGPU since AMD is already dead and they can't fulfill the requirements of making more.consoles...

Meanwhile their GPU division is a dissaster and less and less people buy their solutions. They are being split in order to save them and being sold for some millions to Apple or Samsung... But that means that the APU will die permanently since they won't use their own GPU anymore, unless they move to Power VR...

In few words, AMD is fked up hard.

 

[Erenhardt]

^ BS

So he was barely at AMD initially a year or two and left just as the original Athlon was released and years before the Athlon 64,was at Apple for 4 years and left years before the culmination of his work with Apple custom cores and was at AMD for THREE years and now has left.

Yet,this is being spun by people as doom and gloom.

Some of you really come off as tabloid readers of papers like the Daily Mail and the National Enquirer.

Sensationalism.

Let's look at the Anandtech article when he left Apple:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6129/apple-a4a5-designer-k8-lead-architect-jim-keller-returns-to-amd

There is NO mention of his replacement.

Only two and a half months later did we hear who might be replacing him:
https://mobile.twitter.com/krewell/status/256501777627742208

Oh! Noes! Apple had not planned his successor,their chips are doomed,its rats off a sinking ship,they must have fired him....

Let's not get facts in the way of tabloid level sensationalism.

Good points. Well said.

 

[Azix]

And now there are rumors floating on the web that Nintendo Nx might get delayed due some big changes...

Seems that they might leave AMD and don't be surprised if Sony and MS decides to deliver an Ps 4.5 and a Xbox One 2.0 with Intel Lower clocked Quad Core or a higher clocked Quad Core solution adding a GT940M as dGPU since AMD is already dead and they can't fulfill the requirements of making more.consoles...

Meanwhile their GPU division is a dissaster and less and less people buy their solutions. They are being split in order to save them and being sold for some millions to Apple or Samsung... But that means that the APU will die permanently since they won't use their own GPU anymore, unless they move to Power VR...

In few words, AMD is fked up hard.

On the next episode of... the twilight zone.

If NX is delayed it is unlikely to be a change in something so crucial this late. If it's a change in processor it will be with already decided on hardware, and just changing specs.

 

[cytg111]

The god himself who was to singlehandedly to save AMD with Zen and K12?

Says a lot about those products.

Idiot.

Insulting other members is not allowed.
Markfw900

 

[mnewsham]

And now there are rumors floating on the web that Nintendo Nx might get delayed due some big changes...

Seems that they might leave AMD and don't be surprised if Sony and MS decides to deliver an Ps 4.5 and a Xbox One 2.0 with Intel Lower clocked Quad Core or a higher clocked Quad Core solution adding a GT940M as dGPU since AMD is already dead and they can't fulfill the requirements of making more.consoles...

Meanwhile their GPU division is a dissaster and less and less people buy their solutions. They are being split in order to save them and being sold for some millions to Apple or Samsung... But that means that the APU will die permanently since they won't use their own GPU anymore, unless they move to Power VR...

In few words, AMD is fked up hard.

So sounds like total BS, why would sony and M$ switch to intel and Nvidia half way through a generation? What about all the games already released for ps4 and xbox one? Are they magically supposed to work on this different architecture?

Sorry buddy, you're just not making much sense here.

 

[cytg111]

It could be that the design is ready, that 'his' part of the job is done and its now up to the rest of the grind to make it good.. but based on what IDC wrote, all good deductions, it does smell fishy.. Everything is problary not 10-4 rubber duck with this move. Another bad happening in the business thats a game of incomplete information. Seems like they're locked in a place where the ablility to navigate / decision-making is void.

 

[cytg111]

And now there are rumors floating on the web that Nintendo Nx might get delayed due some big changes...

Seems that they might leave AMD and don't be surprised if Sony and MS decides to deliver an Ps 4.5 and a Xbox One 2.0 with Intel Lower clocked Quad Core or a higher clocked Quad Core solution adding a GT940M as dGPU since AMD is already dead and they can't fulfill the requirements of making more.consoles...

Meanwhile their GPU division is a dissaster and less and less people buy their solutions. They are being split in order to save them and being sold for some millions to Apple or Samsung... But that means that the APU will die permanently since they won't use their own GPU anymore, unless they move to Power VR...

In few words, AMD is fked up hard.

Are you shinatis diciple? You could do better ..

 

[AtenRa]

Yeah, you're probably right.

In the history of AMD's announcements of departing employees, there has always been nothing but upside to come from it.

Who am I to lend a bit of experience, or logic, to the interpretation of yet-another press release regarding the departure of an employee deemed important enough to warrant a press release regarding their departure?

Its all sunshine and rainbows from here out for AMD. Intel is prolly crappen their pants already.

I was merely point out that whoever made the move, being AMD let him out or Keller quit him self, both of them would give 4-6 weeks notice to each other.

I dont know why you said that about AMD and Intel, neither of them are in their best year so far and things are not looking any better for the x86 consumer market for the near future.

 

[Techhog]

And now there are rumors floating on the web that Nintendo Nx might get delayed due some big changes...

Seems that they might leave AMD and don't be surprised if Sony and MS decides to deliver an Ps 4.5 and a Xbox One 2.0 with Intel Lower clocked Quad Core or a higher clocked Quad Core solution adding a GT940M as dGPU since AMD is already dead and they can't fulfill the requirements of making more.consoles...

Meanwhile their GPU division is a dissaster and less and less people buy their solutions. They are being split in order to save them and being sold for some millions to Apple or Samsung... But that means that the APU will die permanently since they won't use their own GPU anymore, unless they move to Power VR...

In few words, AMD is fked up hard.

Nintendo is not going to go to Intel or Nvida. They would charge too much. Going with an ARM solution or even dropping the console completely would be more likely.

I don't see MS or Sony every dealing with Nvidia again either after they both got burned in the past, so they'll look for another solution (on top of the fact that a 940M would be much slower than the PS4's GPU, and niether console would be able to play any games for the currently avaliable consoles).