Why it matters: Tom "TAP" Petersen announced he'll be abandoning his post at Nvida, and while unofficial, reports suggest he'll be heading to Intel to work on marketing Intel's upcoming graphics cards. Assuming the veracity of the report, Petersen is the latest talent to be lured away to Intel following the likes of Raja Kudori, Chris Hook, Jim Keller, and Darren McPhee. In the last couple of years, Intel has made a strategy out of hiring from its competitors.
In a report from Hot Hardware, it's been revealed that Nvidia's Tom Petersen is unexpectedly leaving the company after 15 years. Petersen would be leaving Nvidia in the rear view mirror and making his way to the green pastures of Intel, following other high profile departures.
Petersen had been with Nvidia since 2005, most recently as the Director of Technical Marketing. Prior to Nvidia, Petersen was a CPU designer and worked with companies such as IBM and Motorola.
Petersen will be in good company at Intel if his hiring is confirmed. Raja Kudori famously left AMD to helm Intel's discrete graphics efforts, soon followed by industry veterans Chris Hook and Jim Keller. Intel plans to launch their Xe Graphics cards sometime in 2020, and they've been aggressively recruiting talent for this purpose. After all, Intel will need all the help they can muster to get their graphics cards off the ground, especially when competing against such entrenched players like Nvidia and AMD.
According to Hot Hardware, Petersen will "be an Intel Fellow working with the Game Experience Team." That sounds like something of a forward facing, company liaison. Which isn't unlike what Petersen did at Nvidia.