This article is more than 1 year old

Struggling AMD re-orgs graphics groups as Radeon Technologies

Ex-ATI man Raja Koduri tapped to lead unified visual computing team

AMD has done a rethink of how it approaches graphics chips and has reorganized its various visual computing groups into a new, unified division called Radeon Technologies.

Leading the new group as its senior VP and chief architect is Raja Koduri, who until recently served as AMD's VP of visual computing – one of several execs to whom the company's graphics groups reported.

Under the new arrangement, Koduri will report directly to CEO Lisa Su and will be responsible for all aspects of hardware and software engineering for AMD's various graphics technologies.

Sean Burke – who has led AMD's professional graphics business since 2015 – will now report to Koduri, effectively pulling together AMD's workstation, consumer, and semi-custom graphics businesses under a single organization.

Previously, graphics-focused teams have been all over the place within AMD. The hope is that by teasing them out and creating a single organization dedicated solely to graphics, the new group will be better situated to more rapidly advance AMD's tech to compete with rivals such as Nvidia.

"AMD is one of the few companies with the engineering talent and IP to make emerging immersive computing opportunities a reality," Koduri said in a statement. "Now, with the Radeon Technologies Group, we have a dedicated team focused on growing our business as we create a unique environment for the best and brightest minds in graphics to be a part of the team re-defining the industry."

They'll have their work cut out for them. AMD has been in the red of late, particularly in its consumer chips business, and Su says she'll wield the axe to cut costs. Meanwhile, Nvidia says its own operations are going swimmingly.

By putting Koduri in charge of Radeon, though, Su has picked a visual computing veteran with more than 20 years' experience in the industry.

Koduri joined AMD in 2013, but this is actually his second stint at the company. The first time around began in 2007, when AMD acquired graphics chipmaker ATI. Koduri had been director of advance technology development at ATI and became CTO of AMD's graphics product group. He then stayed with AMD for eight years before being lured off by Apple, then served as an advisor to Indian visual effects firm Makuta VFX before eventually returning to AMD.

An AMD spokesman told The Reg via email that the Radeon re-org is merely an internal reshuffle and won't affect the company's financial reporting. ®

More about

More about

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like