Advanced Micro Devices, a California-based chip maker with substantial operations in Austin, is losing CEO Dirk Meyer.
In an official statement posted on the AMD blog, it sounds like the board thought they could get someone better to run the company.
[t]he Board believes we have the opportunity to create increased shareholder value over time. This will require the company to have significant growth, establish market leadership and generate superior financial returns. We believe a change in leadership at this time will accelerate the company’s ability to accomplish these objectives.
Senior Vice President and CFO Thomas Seifer was named interim president while the company performs the search for a new CEO.
The CNet News blog says this was not expected.
His departure comes as a bit of a surprise to the chip industry, judging by comments on Twitter from people like Microsoft's Rahul Sood, who worked closely with AMD for years developing gaming PCs for his Voodoo PC and later Hewlett-Packard, which acquired Sood's company. "woah...Dirk Meyer resigned from @amd. that was completely and totally unexpected...," he wrote.
AMD is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California but has 2,452 regular employees in Austin. AMD has had a presence here since 1979.
