Raja Koduri, Executive Vice President & Chief Architect, Leaves Intel

[T0@st]

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has issued the news, via a tweet, of Raja Koduri's departure from the silicon giant. Koduri, who currently sits as Executive Vice President and Chief Architect, will be leaving the company at the end of this month. This ends a five year long tenure at Intel, where he started as Chief Architect back in 2017. He intends to form a brand new startup operation that will focus on AI-generative software for computer games. His tweeted reply to Gelsinger reads: "Thank you Pat and Intel for many cherished memories and incredible learning over the past 5 years. Will be embarking on a new chapter in my life, doing a software startup as noted below. Will have more to share in coming weeks."

Intel has been undergoing numerous internal restructures, and Koduri's AXG Graphics Unit was dissolved late last year. He was the general manager of the graphic chips division prior to its split, and returned to his previous role as Chief Architect at Intel. The company stated at the time that Koduri's new focus would be on: "growing efforts across CPU, GPU and AI, and accelerating high-priority technical programmes."



Raja Koduri oversaw the development and release of Intel's Arc Alchemist GPU series - its own answer to rivals Nvidia and AMD in the much contested discrete graphic card market. The two companies have faced little competition outside of their own long running duel, only to have Intel pitch in at the 25-year mark with its A380, A750 and A770 models. The Arc project has gone through many technical setbacks and delays, and the resultant products launched to a mixed reception in October 2022. The company has been battling to boost the reputation of its Alchemist GPUs, in the face of rumors about a total cancellation of the undertaking. Numerous firmware and software fixes have been issued since Arc's debut, and aggressive price cuts have been deployed in recent weeks.



Koduri served stints at Apple and AMD prior to taking on executive positions at Intel. He was at the forefront of transforming AMD's Radeon Technology Group, with the development of its Polaris, Vega and Navi architectures. These core graphics technologies would boost AMD's fortunes, as their hardware was implemented into a wider range of PCs, Apple Macs and multiple generations of home gaming consoles.

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[Daven]

Signs that your product line is going to do well:

1- Delay products by three years
2- Release with buggy software drivers
3- Discontinue development department and move head person to another department
4- Delay next version and replace with a + refresh
5- Head person leaves company

Success!!!

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Using the, want to be closer to family again

 

[R0H1T]

Raja needs to work at Nvidia next

 

[chrcoluk]

He has only been there 5 minutes, they released one generation and hes gone? wow.

 

[P4-630]

Raja is coming to China next!

 

[Dirt Chip]

This is just his usual job cycle.
No point taking it to the realms of "ARC is doomed" or "Intel is on bankrupt course" kind of shenanigans.
He done his part, now moving to the next interesting thing. That's about it.

 

[Daven]

This is just his usual job cycle.
No point taking it to the realms of "ARC is doomed" or "Intel is on bankrupt course" kind of shenanigans.
He done his part, now moving to the next interesting thing. That's about it.

I fully expect Intel to cancel ARC in the next year and concentrate on iGPU as well as Ponte Vecchio. I’m guessing Intel will squeeze out a few more dollars using the Alchemist refresh, breakeven then call it a day.

 

[cvaldes]

Now that his RSUs are fully vested he can cash in and move on.

He's been counting down the days to this moment for the past five years. That's really all.

 

[mb194dc]

Oh dear, it's a shame as GPU market could use a third player.

 

[Dragokar]

I guess XE² aka Battlemage will define the end user program or if they go Datacenter/HPC only.

 

[Upgrayedd]

I expect Intel to continue with Battlemage and Celestial. What I don't expect much from is the Koduri startup. Generative AI for gaming? What does that even mean? Is it for image quality? World generation? ... what??

 

[ZoneDymo]

man people here hang a lot of consequences on one guy leaving a company....

 

[Daven]

Oh dear, it's a shame as GPU market could use a third player.

The GPU market has many players (Apple, Qualcomm, ARM, Samsung, Matrox, Mediatek, Imagination Technologies, etc) What you mean is a dedicated GPU you can buy as a component in a box so you can build your own PC and play games on it. Unfortunately AMD and Nvidia seem to be the only ones putting much effort in this space.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Hi,
Using the, want to be closer to family again

Actually, he had some kind of surgery earlier this/end of last year, so who knows what's going on.

 

[bug]

He should have no problem in his future endeavors with such a streak of successful products behind him. /s

 

[GoldenX]

Feels like the following Xe series will actually be decent then.

Hopefully the money saved on his payroll can be used for driver development. I'm still waiting for my Xe to not crash building basic SPIR-V shaders.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

We need a betting poll and pool to predict where he goes next.

 

[natr0n]

His back gave out.

 

[sergionography]

Signs that your product line is going to do well:

1- Delay products by three years
2- Release with buggy software drivers
3- Discontinue development department and move head person to another department
4- Delay next version and replace with a + refresh
5- Head person leaves company

Success!!!

Everyone associates Raja with Polaris, when he actually set the foundation for Navi while at AMD. Nonetheless, even Polaris was amazing value at the time (I miss those days compared to the shit show we have in the gpu market today). Absolutely nothing viable at a decent price, and all our wishes for AMD to become competitive so we can see better pricing did not come to fruition as you can see today (the fact Intel is our last hope is a very sad reality indeed).
With ARC, I dismissed it at first until I recently started paying close attention to it in reviews, and its actually quite impressive for what it is. The ray tracing implementation is solid. It beats out a 6700xt for much less. This is only a solid foundation for Intel to continue. If they stop now it would be very shortsighted of them. Anyways, thats what Raja (and other other architects) do in general. They join, lead a project or program up to a run and maintain/growth phase, and then move on to kick start something new. Jim Keller did that with Zen, and Raja did the same with Navi at AMD.

 

[Fouquin]

He should have no problem in his future endeavors with such a streak of successful products behind him. /s

Actually yes. His record is quite good for bringing up new architectures that make deep impacts. Everyone needs to step back and remember that all of HIS work ended the moment the card ships. Just like Jim Keller left AMD over a year before Zen 1 launched, yet his direct input extended all the way to laying foundations on Zen 3. Once the stamp of approval hits the design and it begins packaging it's time to jump to the next project.

Similarly this could mean that Arc is on track and Raja's involvement is not pivotal to the existing road map, so he's leaving before the next major architecture begins to take form. He's likely had direct input on what we will only know about in 4 years time.

 

[bug]

Actually yes. His record is quite good for bringing up new architectures that make deep impacts. Everyone needs to step back and remember that all of HIS work ended the moment the card ships. Just like Jim Keller left AMD over a year before Zen 1 launched, yet his direct input extended all the way to laying foundations on Zen 3. Once the stamp of approval hits the design and it begins packaging it's time to jump to the next project.

Similarly this could mean that Arc is on track and Raja's involvement is not pivotal to the existing road map, so he's leaving before the next major architecture begins to take form. He's likely had direct input on what we will only know about in 4 years time.

Mr Keller designs stuff that changes an industry. Raja doesn't hold a candle to that. Polaris/RDNA and Arc are seriously underwhelming, whereas Apple's A chips ans Zen pretty much redefined efficiency. In two different market segments, no less.

 

[Paganstomp]

Next... he opens a McDonald's franchise with a convenience store in Rhode Island.

 

[Fouquin]

Mr Keller designs stuff that changes an industry. Raja doesn't hold a candle to that. Polaris/RDNA and Arc are seriously underwhelming, whereas Apple's A chips ans Zen pretty much redefined efficiency. In two different market segments, no less.

Okay buddy. Engineers aren't sports teams.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Some more details here.

Koduri told CRN that he had “seriously considered retirement” after going on medical leave late last year and after “27 years with GPU companies and 22 generations of GPU hardware.”

Raja Koduri, Main Driver Of Intel’s GPU Efforts, To Leave Company | CRN

Raja Koduri tells CRN why he is leaving Intel as the company's chief architect after leading the buildout of its graphics capabilities for more than five years.

www.crn.com