− Hector Ruiz Named Executive Chairman of AMD –
SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- July 17, 2008 --AMD (NYSE:AMD) today announced that its board of directors elected President and COO Dirk
Meyer as the company’s chief executive officer. Meyer succeeds Hector Ruiz,
who will become executive chairman of AMD and chair of the board of directors. As executive chairman,
Ruiz will ensure a smooth executive leadership transition, focus on driving the
company’s asset smart strategy to completion, and assist with high-level
government and strategic partner relations.
“Dirk’s election to CEO is the final phase of a two-year succession
plan developed and implemented jointly by AMD’s board of directors and
executive team,” said Robert Palmer, lead independent director. “Under
Hector’s strong leadership, AMD drove the industry adoption of pervasive
64-bit and multicore computing, became a trusted enterprise-class partner to
leading technology suppliers and significantly expanded its global footprint
in high-growth markets like China.
“Dirk’s extensive experience as a business leader and his notable
engineering accomplishments before and during his 12 years at AMD make him ideally
suited to build upon the foundation Hector created and lead AMD.”
“AMD has fundamentally altered the industry landscape, leading the innovation
agenda while delivering greater choice and better experiences for our customers
and users,” said Ruiz, executive chairman, AMD. “Dirk
is a gifted leader who possesses the right skills and experience to continue
driving AMD and the industry forward in new, compelling directions. I am placing
the company in excellent hands.”
Meyer, 46, joined AMD in 1995 and made his mark as part of the design team
responsible for the original AMD Athlon™ processor, a breakthrough product
for AMD and the industry’s first processor to break the 1GHz barrier.
From 2001 to 2006, Meyer led the company’s microprocessor business, overseeing
related R&D, manufacturing, operations, and marketing. His leadership skills
during these five years resulted in a doubling of revenue for the microprocessor
business and a substantial expansion of AMD’s global profile. In 2006,
Meyer was appointed president and COO, and in 2007, he was elected to AMD’s
board of directors.
“I’m tremendously excited by the opportunities ahead for AMD. As
the only company that possesses expertise and leadership in both x86 microprocessor
and graphics technology, AMD has a unique capability to drive the next wave
of innovation through the integration of computing and graphics processors to
deliver a better computing experience,” said Meyer, president and chief
executive officer, AMD. “We are in the midst of re-shaping AMD’s
business model with the goal of delivering sustained profitability through a
focus on the core technologies that differentiate AMD. My immediate priority
is to work with the leadership team to accelerate this transformation. I appreciate
the trust that the Board and Hector have placed in me. During the years that
I’ve worked under Hector, he has been an excellent leader, mentor and
friend.”
Ruiz, 62, joined AMD as president and chief operating officer in January 2000
and became AMD's chief executive officer on April 25, 2002. He has served on
AMD’s board of directors since 2000 and was appointed chairman of the
board of directors in 2004. His accomplishments at AMD and contributions to
the industry include:
- Expanding AMD beyond the consumer desktop market into the commercial and
enterprise market, resulting in AMD technology being used by as much as 90
of the top 100 companies on the Forbes Global 2000 by the year 2007.
- Growing AMD’s customer base to include the world’s top 10 computer
manufacturers and the world’s top 10 consumer electronics manufacturers.
- Redefining the future of enterprise computing with the introduction of
the AMD Opteron™ processor, paving the way for the industry-standard
x86 architecture to deliver the advantages of 64-bit computing.
- Sharply growing AMD’s global presence, with new teams and new design
centers in China, India, and other high-growth markets. In 2007, AMD’s
international sales represented 87 percent of total consolidated revenue,
as compared to 66 percent in 2001.
- Focusing the industry on innovating to better meet customer needs. This
strategy, commonly referred to as “customer-centric innovation,”
has become a hallmark of Hector and of AMD, and is a primary point of AMD’s
competitive differentiation.
- Broadening AMD’s platform advantage to include leading-edge graphics
and paving the road for the next generation of computing, Accelerated Computing,
with the ATI acquisition in late 2006.
- Promoting fair and open competition in the global microprocessor market
with AMD filing a landmark antitrust suit against Intel. Since 2005, antitrust
regulators around the world have validated claims made by AMD regarding Intel’s
illegal business practices by launching independent investigations that have
thus far uncovered evidence of illegal monopoly maintenance that harms consumer
choice.
About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative
processing solutions in the computing and graphics markets. AMD is dedicated to
driving open innovation, choice and industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric
solutions that empower consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information,
visit www.amd.com.
AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, AMD Athlon™ and AMD Opteron™ processors are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and used to identify companies and products and may be trademarks of their respective owners.