AMD changes CEO as chip maker struggles
SAN FRANCISCO -- Hector Ruiz was pushed aside Thursday after six tumultuous years as CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., as the chip maker tries to pull itself out of a deep financial hole caused by a questionable acquisition and a major product gaffe.
Ruiz, 62, who had been the only person to head AMD other than founder and longtime CEO Jerry Sanders, is stepping down as chief executive but will remain on the board of directors. Ruiz, one of the few Hispanic CEOs of a major U.S. corporation, had also been AMD chairman but now takes on the title of executive chairman, a distinction that lets him retain some day-to-day responsibilities.
He's being replaced as CEO by AMD's current chief operating officer, Dirk Meyer, 46, an engineer and chip designer who has been helping Ruiz run the company since 2006. That means he knows AMD's operations intimately but also that he shares some of the responsibility for the company's financial distress.
"He is the right leader at the right time for this company," Ruiz said.
Meyer had previously led AMD's microprocessor division, the company's primary business unit. Microprocessors act as the brains of personal computers.
Nearly all the world's personal computers and many of the servers inside corporate data centers run on chips made by AMD or its much larger Silicon Valley rival, Intel Corp. Intel commands 80 percent of the global market for microprocessors. AMD has roughly the other 20 percent.
Meyer was involved in the design of AMD's Opteron server chip, which marked the company's 2003 foray into a lucrative segment of the server market where Intel had a stranglehold. The success of that chip -- and Ruiz's sales savvy in lining up new customers -- helped AMD transform itself from a perennial second-fiddle competitor to Intel into a serious rival across all computing platforms.
But the semiconductor industry is notoriously volatile, prone to boom-and-bust cycles. AMD has crashed hard over the past two years, racking up billions in losses and struggling to regain the competitive edge it squandered against Intel.
The management changeover will be welcome news to AMD investors who have questioned Ruiz's leadership as the company has faltered. But it's unclear if Meyer's appointment will be enough to woo Wall Street back to a company that hasn't yet provided a clear picture about how it intends to mend its battered balance sheet.
