Jim Keller leaves AMD - AMD claims Zen "on track"

[Doobeedoo]

Surprised...

Well, their 'Zen' chip is done so it's just 'we wait' thing now. Maybe he joined AMD back to give them a good push and now he feels he did it and can go elsewhere
Anyway, it feels long until 'Zen' comes to market though. I really wonder how much performance gain will new chip show. Cause not sure what exactly to think about the slide that shows 40% more IPC performance. Would that be just a ground performance jump cause of new architecture move from CMT to SMT or?

[ACatWithThumbs]

Zen is finalized: http://www.extremetech.com/computing/205086-amd-details-zen-k12-cpu-cores-confirms-next-gen-memory-support

My eyebrow is raised because I'm quite certain someone is about to purchase AMD... I'm thinking Keller didn't want to work with these folks.

Yep, the constant rumors for the last few months of AMD getting bought, them dropping under $2billion worth, and now a lead engineer is leaving it just screams a buy out which we can only hope happens so that we get some competition.

And Zen can't be ready as the fabs aren't ready yet for almost another year so they might have to still make bigger changes to the chip depending on how the fab works out.

 

[alpenwasser]

And Zen can't be ready as the fabs aren't ready yet for almost another year so they might have to still make bigger changes to the chip depending on how the fab works out.

Major development is likely done at this point, in which case what's primarily left to do

is tweaking here and there (which, yes, is still important of course) and getting production

up and running properly.

Obviously that's an educated guess at best, but I'm going by what I've read about chip

development and rollout over the years.

Also, +1 on the competition front, I really don't want to live in a market where NV and

Intel hold monopolies in their respective markets. *shudders*

[The_Strict_Nein]

Really? This is just an engineer leaving, I'm sure by this point AMD is in the testing & manufacturing phase of development.

 

I didn't really expect Zen to be that good anyway, but we need to stop with the RIP AMD in every single news thread.

 

When Jim Keller joins AMD:

 

'Oh yeah, now Jim Keller is on board, this one engineer can completely change our fortunes and compete with Intel's best CPUs and kick their asses'

 

When Jim Keller leaves AMD:

 

'What? He's just one engineer. He hardly changed anything'.

 

Never change AMD fanboys

 

(Not stating that you specifically are a fanboy, I've just seen a lot of arguments like this)

[Kamina]

Lol AMD is nothing without him.

[patrickjp93]

Intel just hired him to head up their Atom core development. Expect a press release Monday or Tuesday. ARM is done.

[DaRk0]

When Jim Keller joins AMD:

'Oh yeah, now Jim Keller is on board, this one engineer can completely change our fortunes and compete with Intel's best CPUs and kick their asses'

When Jim Keller leaves AMD:

'What? He's just one engineer. He hardly changed anything'.

Never change AMD fanboys

(Not stating that you specifically are a fanboy, I've just seen a lot of arguments like this)

This so much, mate. They always live in some kind of denial.

[Salty]

@Bubblewhale you still buying stocks in AMD?

[Fetzie]

This so much, mate. They always live in some kind of denial.

No, it's more like:

Jim Keller joins AMD: "He will revolutionize their CPU design"

Jim Keller leaves AMD: "He left after finalizing the design of the Zen architecture and he is satisfied that they know what to do with those designs, because that's what he does"

[VanayadGaming]

No, it's more like:

Jim Keller joins AMD: "He will revolutionize their CPU design"

Jim Keller leaves AMD: "He left after finalizing the design of the Zen architecture and he is satisfied that they know what to do with those designs, because that's what he does"

 

There is this anti-AMD vibe on these forums... (at least in the news section which I browse most often) that whatever happens, AMD dies according to these guys..

[Agosto]

There is this anti-AMD vibe on these forums... (at least in the news section which I browse most often) that whatever happens, AMD dies according to these guys..

 

 

Everybody says it's going to die simply because AMD often fucks up things.

Moreover, some company have just bought 20% of AMD and there always are rumours about "x company is going to buy AMD" etc

[Fetzie]

Everybody says it's going to die simply because AMD often fucks up things.

Moreover, some company have just bought 20% of AMD and there always are rumours about "x company is going to buy AMD" etc

Isn't that "some company" called "Radeon Technologies" which is under the control of AMD executives?

[Dimwitted]

The big issue is getting Zen made, not designed. His job is done. Adding insult, the fab is having major issues in building it. Keller can't help that. There's no point in him sitting around watching a fab screw things up and not being able to do a damn thing about it.

[DaRk0]

No, it's more like:

Jim Keller joins AMD: "He will revolutionize their CPU design"

Jim Keller leaves AMD: "He left after finalizing the design of the Zen architecture and he is satisfied that they know what to do with those designs, because that's what he does"

 

Question is: How do we know he's satisfied with the design? Is there a public statement from him mentioning this or it's because 'that's what he does'? Zen is not released, so we don't know how it will perform, so comment like 'he's satisfied with those designs' are not really holding the water. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. You can speculate.

[Fetzie]

Question is: How do we know he's satisfied with the design? Is there a public statement from him mentioning this or it's because 'that's what he does'? Zen is not released, so we don't know how it will perform, so comment like 'he's satisfied with those designs' are not really holding the water. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. You can speculate.

The CPU has been in development since 2012. It is being launched to customers in about a year. There is no way in hell that the design is not finished yet. He finished the design. He moves on. That's what contractors do. It's what he did after the K8 was done, it's what he did after the A5 was done. This isn't abnormal behaviour.

[patrickjp93]

There is this anti-AMD vibe on these forums... (at least in the news section which I browse most often) that whatever happens, AMD dies according to these guys..

It's not negativity so much as the facts and climate just seem far too stacked against AMD for it to make the sort of comeback required to live on and compete. And heck now that Intel's poached Keller it seems like it's over.

[patrickjp93]

The CPU has been in development since 2012. It is being launched to customers in about a year. There is no way in hell that the design is not finished yet. He finished the design. He moves on. That's what contractors do. It's what he did after the K8 was done, it's what he did after the A5 was done. This isn't abnormal behaviour.

There is room for tweaking while GloFo is having yield issues to be fair.

[Agosto]

Isn't that "some company" called "Radeon Technologies" which is under the control of AMD executives?

 

It's Silver Lake AFAIK

 

Nothing to do with Radeon Tech, it's just an internal division probably created to manage the budget in a better way

[DaRk0]

The CPU has been in development since 2012. It is being launched to customers in about a year. There is no way in hell that the design is not finished yet. He finished the design. He moves on. That's what contractors do. It's what he did after the K8 was done, it's what he did after the A5 was done. This isn't abnormal behaviour.

 

No one said he did not finish the design though.

[ACatWithThumbs]

There is this anti-AMD vibe on these forums... (at least in the news section which I browse most often) that whatever happens, AMD dies according to these guys..

It's not anti-AMD at all we need AMD to finally die so that a big company can buy them out.

AMD is incapable of doing competition in its current state and we are all sick of it.

GPU's are over 2x as expensive as they were 5 years ago a GTX590 was $699 now a single GPU costs that price or more.

And at the current rate Intel will still be still selling expensive 4 cores for years to come.

 

The CPU has been in development since 2012. It is being launched to customers in about a year. There is no way in hell that the design is not finished yet. He finished the design. He moves on. That's what contractors do. It's what he did after the K8 was done, it's what he did after the A5 was done. This isn't abnormal behaviour.

Just look at Maxwell they had to change huge part of the chip due to TSMC.

Depending on the fabs they might have do rework some stuff also if patrickjp93 is correct and he really works now for Intel that would literally be a death sentence for AMD.

 

[That Norwegian Guy]

Don't see how either of those would be a bad thing.

Especially in the case of Samsung with their great fabs.

 

Didn't Samsung run Matrox into the ground?

[Sakkura]

Question is: How do we know he's satisfied with the design? Is there a public statement from him mentioning this or it's because 'that's what he does'? Zen is not released, so we don't know how it will perform, so comment like 'he's satisfied with those designs' are not really holding the water. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. You can speculate.

 

It doesn't matter if he's satisfied or not, it's basically done now. Him staying wouldn't affect the outcome of Zen much. The fact that he's leaving will have an effect on whatever AMD does after Zen. Assuming they're still around.

[MageTank]

Intel just hired him to head up their Atom core development. Expect a press release Monday or Tuesday. ARM is done.

And once again, it comes to me asking you for a source on this, other than your imagination. 

[patrickjp93]

And once again, it comes to me asking you for a source on this, other than your imagination.

Investor conference call. You'll see a press release Monday or Tuesday.

[Dimwitted]

Question is: How do we know he's satisfied with the design? Is there a public statement from him mentioning this or it's because 'that's what he does'? Zen is not released, so we don't know how it will perform, so comment like 'he's satisfied with those designs' are not really holding the water. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. You can speculate.

I'm quite sure that there's Zen's in AMD as we speak. Once past tape out there will be small batches made for testing and proofing purposes. I wouldn't be surprised that Keller has been doing the testing and left once he was able to sign off the on the design in silicon. Most people forget that Zen is already 6 months late. They've now moved the release date back twice. GloFo is really struggling. I can see AMD going down as they can't get product through no fault of their own. Sad.

 

And even someone like Samsung can't swoop in and save the day as the processes are too different. TSMC is partnered with Glofo on this so there's no help there either. The only way that AMD could really get moving is to start over with someone who really understands the process, has the fabs to make it work and the expertise to get it done. In other words... Intel.