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AMD’s CTO resigns

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Technology Chief leaves Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) following the departure of Henri Richard, Chief Of Sales, and Dave Orton, Chief Of Graphics, during a time the company posts losses whilst competing with Intel.
According to a report on the Bloomberg web site, technology chief Phil Hester is leaving, the third senior executive to depart in less than a year. Hester, 52, resigned to pursue other opportunities, said Rob Keosheyan, a spokesman for the Sunnyvale, California based company. His last day is today. Advanced Micro's pace of chip development fell behind Intel's last year, contributing to five consecutive quarterly losses and a 63 percent slide in the stock in 2007. Hester's exit follows the departure of sales chief Henri Richard in September. Dave Orton, head of the graphic unit, left in July. Hester joined Advanced Micro in 2005 from Newisys, a computer company he co-founded. Before that, he spent 23 years at IBM. Advanced Micro's five units already have technology chiefs, who were appointed by Hester. Hester's position will not be filled, Keosheyan said. This week, Advanced Micro said first quarter revenue will miss analysts' estimates by more than $100 million. The company will cut about 1,650 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce. Hester's departure isn't related to the job cuts, Keosheyan said. Advanced Micro fell 26 cents to $6.01 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 20 percent this year, compared with a 12 percent slide for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, composed of 18 chip companies. ``Any time you have a cook leaving the restaurant, you get chaos,'' said David Wu, an analyst at Global Crown Capital in San Francisco. He rates the stock ``overweight'' and doesn't own any. ``The top chef has gone, that's not good.'' Advanced Micro had its biggest sales gains against Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker, in 2006, reaching a market share of 25 percent in the fourth quarter. Last year, delays to the introduction of a new chip design called Barcelona forced the company to cut prices to compete with newer products from Santa Clara, California-based Intel. Advanced Micro then postponed mass manufacturing when the chip caused errors in some computer programs.
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