14 DAY TRIAL // With each passing month, the world learns something previously unknown about AMD's efforts to refashion itself. This time around, we find out that another 5% of AMD's employees may get the boot in the near future.
We don't know who VR-Zone talked to, but the things they heard about the so-called project WIN weren't all that encouraging, unless one counts the part that justifies the departure of many of its key engineers and executives. A purge of 5% of its worker base is coming.
Advanced Micro Devices let go of many veteran staff members in the period after new CEO Rory Read assumed his post.
We expected it, since AMD is trying to change its focus and drop some projects. “The company has too many VPs and directors who slow things down. New hires cannot fulfill their targets due to amount of bureaucracy.” the report's source said.
Really, it might not have even been all that worrisome if the talent hadn't been snatched by others. As it stands, though, NVIDIA got its game console liaison, while Samsung and Qualcomm signed on some of the others. Qualcomm actually got Eric Demers, AMD former chief technology officer.
It also doesn't help that AMD's third quarter was a bit of a downer, due to sales estimates being missed.
All eyes are on the fourth quarter now. As AMD enacts that 5% staff/employee purge, which will leave it with less than 10,000 workers, it really needs to show that Project WIN is working, to the world as much as itself.
The Virgo platform, which includes the Trinity A-Series accelerated processing units for desktops, is the first step, assuming it impresses enough people and sells well. The new behavior, that of a chip supplier rather than a brand vendor, is supposed to make that happen.
After that, all eyes are on the Vishera CPUs, the Radeon HD 8000 series GPUs (Venus, Mars, Oland) and the Sea, Volcanic and Pirate Islands (2014-2015) graphics processing units.