AMD has announced that graphics Chief Technology Officer Eric Demers has left the company to pursue other opportunities. AMD CTO Mark Papermaster will fill his spot in the interim until a replacement is found, according to a press release from the company as reported by Bit-Tech.
It is believed that Demers will stay with AMD through the rest of the week, making February 17 his last day as graphics CTO. No reason was given for his departure although BSN, citing proven industry sources, claims the departure was expected based on internal management disputes.
Demers has a storied career in graphics, getting his start in 1990 at Matrox Corp as a junior engineer. He later went on to work for Silicon Graphics, SGI and ArtX before assuming various positions at ATI starting in April 2000. Demers worked his way up through the ranks at ATI before the company was acquired by AMD in 2006 where he eventually became a senior architect and finally the graphics CTO.
It’s unclear where Demers will land following his long stay with ATI / AMD, although HardOCP reports that they have confirmed he won’t be heading to Nvidia or Intel. Perhaps he isn’t interested in a position at either company but it’s more likely that he had a ‘no-compete’ clause in his contract that would prevent him from working at a direct rival for some time after his departure.
“AMD remains fully committed to our critical graphics IP development and discrete GPU products. We have a tremendous depth of talent in our organization, a game plan that is resonating with our customers and our team, and we are continuing to bring graphics-performance-leading products to market. We will attract the right technology leader for this role,” the company said.
https://www.techspot.com/news/47464-amd-graphics-cto-eric-demers-leaves-the-company.html
