AMD Gaming Exec Departs Chip Maker for Rival NVIDIA

[TheMailMan78]

The executive overseeing Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s (AMD) relationship with videogame-console makers has left the company to join rival NVIDIA, taking with him years of experience in the competitive field. Bob Feldstein, who joined AMD when the company acquired graphics-chip maker ATI in 2006, has taken on the role of vice president of technology licensing at NVIDIA. He most recently served as AMD's corporate vice president of business development and also led the company's Boston Design Center, which focuses on design engineering for AMD's various chips.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[TheMailMan78]

Thanks Crap Daddy for the heads up!

 

[function69]

Big pay-checks do wonders!

 

[D007]

Souls for sale, yummy, tasty souls for saalleee.
j/k..

 

[natr0n]

stein guy is basically a Judas

 

[m1dg3t]

Nvidia wants piece of the console market!

 

[hardcore_gamer]

Nvidia wants piece of the console market!

They have to wait 10 more years.

 

[ensabrenoir]

Oh no he didn't ....seriously I thought. U had to wait. A year before working for the comp

 

[1c3d0g]

Maybe this guy will be the main contact person for smaller console projects like Ouya (since it uses a Tegra 3).

 

[NHKS]

time for some gossip on console development

 

[TheMailMan78]

Oh no he didn't ....seriously I thought. U had to wait. A year before working for the comp

That's a non-compete disclosure and is tied to a term contract. Not all term contracts have them. If his didn't then shame on AMD's legal team. That's an epic screw up.

Personally I have never signed one. I won't work for a company that plays those games unless there is a massive severance tied to it.

 

[phanbuey]

That's a non-compete disclosure and is tied to a term contract. Not all term contracts have them. If his didn't then shame on AMD's legal team. That's an epic screw up.

Personally I have never signed one. I won't work for a company that plays those games unless there is a massive severance tied to it.

Those non-competes are impossible to actually enforce. The more ridiculous they are, in number of years, the less they hold up in court.

 

[lilkiduno]

well when you work for large corporations like AMD/Intel/nVidia you would kind of expect them to have non-compete clauses for this reason here. I has valuable information as to what rival (AMD) company is working on. I shared the information and not the actually technology and rival (nVidia) now knows what to expect so the can develop new technology to surpass rival (AMD). If the large corporations were to average out their R&D development times from start to finish and then take that time and write it into their non-compete clauses that would be a smart move from a business legal point of view. The worker can share information as long as it isn't exact data without sharing trade secrets So say I worked for AMD and nVidia hired me (before eyefinity) I sould have shared information on how AMD planned on creating a program that would allow players to play on multi-screens in panoramic view. nVidia might have pushed TONS of money to do the same thing and as long as I didn't give information on how they planned to complete this is would have been perfectly legal. And if the nondisclosure clause could be proven to be a reletivly responsible time frame then the company could sue both the ex-employee as well as the rival company in case of sharring project ideas.

But that's just my $0.02

 

[Phusius]

Already been announced the major consoles will be using AMD only next gen.... so yeah, all the best to him, he is missing out on a nice pay raise Winter 2013/14.

 

[Fluffmeister]

I guess he actually wants to work with developers.

 

[Crap Daddy]

I guess he actually wants to work with developers.

I guess he actually wants to work with a company that he thinks has a better future than the company he left. He knows better than any of us what's inside AMD. Actually I'm quite surprised he was allowed to make this move so smoothly.

 

[Xzibit]

I guess he actually wants to work with a company that he thinks has a better future than the company he left. He knows better than any of us what's inside AMD. Actually I'm quite surprised he was allowed to make this move so smoothly.

Nvidia could hire him even with a "*Non-Compete Clause" and just pay the hefty fine to AMD. HP and other computer giants have done it aswell while recruiting talent.

You mean that after doing his job in securing Console contracts. What else is he gonna do but just collect a pay check at AMD for the next 3-4years until it comes times for Consoles to refresh. By that time we could be looking at a whole new landscape.

Nvidia is try'n to break into the mobile market and smart-tv. They will probably use him to sweet talk Samsung and others into exclusively carring their internals or proprietary link systems. in the US nvidia for all its efforts in mobile tegra it only has one phone to show for it and currently testing 3 in Europe and the reviews arent great compared to the competition.

 

[Crap Daddy]

in the US nvidia for all its efforts in mobile tegra it only has one phone to show for it and currently testing 3 in Europe and the reviews arent great compared to the competition.

Google Nexus 7 and Microsoft Surface use Tegra 3. Countless Chinese OEMs use Tegra in cheaper phones. I think NV put its foot clearly in this market in a short time.

In the meantime last week:

When AMD VP Rory Read spoke during conference call he pointed out that AMD for the first time since 2001 has seen a dropping interest three quarters in a row for PCs. The actual report revealed a revenue that was down 10 percent year-to-year and landed at 1.41 billion dollar. AMD made a profit of 77 million dollar, up from a loss of 580 million dollar last quarter, but it is the future for the company and PCs overall that worries the most.

"For the first time since 2001, client PC shipments have declined sequentially for three consecutive quarters-and have been below historical averages for the last seven quarters.[...]We also believe the PC industry may be resetting to a new [lower] baseline," - Rory Read

Also:

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s shares plunged Friday to their lowest level in more than three years after the chipmaker reported that economic weakness dragged down its second-quarter results and would hurt its performance through the summer.

THE SPARK: AMD announced Thursday that its second-quarter net income fell 40 percent on overall weakness in the global economy, softer consumer spending and lower demand for its processors overseas. While the company said it is taking steps to improve its performance, it expects "headwinds" to continue to challenge the company into the third quarter.

So, tough times ahead and as much as I hate tablets and everything mobile this is where we are heading.

 

[Widjaja]

By the way things are looking for AMD I wouldn't be surprised if the World ends up with Intel nVidia having monopoly.

Would be a sad day.
Damn you AMD why did you ave to make the Bulldozer chips have the speed of a bulldozer

 

[Morgoth]

i think it needs to turn back to the old days when you had 4 companys making dekstop cpu's and gpu's

 

[slybunda]

be lucky none of amd's crappy driver team went over to infect nvidia.

 

[happita]

i think it needs to turn back to the old days when you had 4 companys making dekstop cpu's and gpu's

It would be great, but those were the days of old. Only the strong survive(d).

 

[trickson]

Like rats leaving a sinking ship?

 

[seronx]

Arun Iyengar -> is the new game console guy
http://www.amd.com/us/press-releases/Pages/amd-strengthens-commitment-2012jun11.aspx

Jim Farrell -> is the new design guy
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jim-farrell/10/a7a/a89

Arun Iyengar will now oversee the game console business along with his other duties, Mr. Fox said, and will work to expand AMD's chips into broader markets. Mr. Iyengar last month was named corporate vice president and general manager of AMD's newly-created embedded business unit.

Meanwhile, the Boston Design Center is now being led by Jim Farrell, an AMD senior design fellow. Mr. Farrell is an AMD veteran who is also responsible for setting the technical direction for AMD's silicon technology, the company said.

AMD -> Sony -> Military deal maybe to replace the Sony PS3 clustercomputer

Prior to joining AMD, Iyengar held several leadership roles at Altera Corporation, including his most recent role where he served as vice president of Altera’s Military, Industrial, Computing (MIC) Business Division.

^--

 

[Desert Eagle]

be lucky none of amd's crappy driver team went over to infect nvidia.

Agreed, however, it's in the interest of the gaming community (myself included) that AMD and Nvidia both thrive because without serious competition we will end up with a Microsoft-esque type mentality in the video card market where we are told what we will be using, despite our objections, and we will pay whatever price they think they can gouge us for and go throw yourself off a friggin' cliff if you don't like it kind of attitude.