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[guru3d] AMD RTG Raja Koduri Takes A Temporary Leave

12K views 204 replies 75 participants last post by  ZealotKi11er 
#1 ·
Didn't really expect this

It is a bit weird news to report about, but you all have been able to follow everything AMD Radeon wise for years now. If you look back the past three years have seen many refreshes and recently a very difficult Vega launch. The news today is that the leader of the RTG has taken a 'sabbatical' for the remainder of the year, Raja Koduri is now non-active.



http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/amd-radeon-technologies-group-raja-koduri-takes-sabbatical.html

http://wccftech.com/amd-head-graphics-raja-koduri-takes-temporary-leave-ceo-lisa-su-charge-rtg-2018/
 
#2 ·
Semi accurate reported on the radeon situation a couple of years back and if they were accurate, this would make sense.

Bet he gets a job at intel.
 
#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newbie2009 View Post

Semi accurate reported on the radeon situation a couple of years back and if they were accurate, this would make sense.

Bet he gets a job at intel.
Also i'm not sure if it'll really be temporary or not, i feel a bit naive thinking this will be until december, but not sure.
 
#4 ·
Crazy :O I wish nothing but the best for him and amd.
 
#5 ·
I'd say that he and everybody else at AMD probably reached the conclusion that he is not tailored to be running the RTG on a daily basis, at least not without some major help; it seems that come December when he comes back he will be devoting more time to the architecting / engineering part, which is what he does best.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by oxidized View Post

Also i'm not sure if it'll really be temporary or not, i feel a bit naive thinking this will be until december, but not sure.
Well it was reported that there was a big power struggle in AMD graphics and raja was essentially empire building.

Different opinions on the direction the graphics division should go.

It was suggested by leaks that raja was doing things only his way and resisted management being put in place by AMD.
Was padding his CV for a job with the competition.

No idea if true but this looks like the end of the road for him with AMD.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newbie2009 View Post

Well it was reported that there was a big power struggle in AMD graphics and raja was essentially empire building.

Different opinions on the direction the graphics division should go.

It was suggested by leaks that raja was doing things only his way and resisted management being put in place by AMD.
Was padding his CV for a job with the competition.

No idea if true but this looks like the end of the road for him with AMD.
Did he really need padding for his CV? He had already been the graphics CTO of AMD before he left for Apple in 2009 and then he's got the role of director of graphics architecture at Apple in his resume.

If he really wanted to go somewhere else, why not just apply? Why return to AMD?
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newbie2009 View Post

Well it was reported that there was a big power struggle in AMD graphics and raja was essentially empire building.

Different opinions on the direction the graphics division should go.

It was suggested by leaks that raja was doing things only his way and resisted management being put in place by AMD.
Was padding his CV for a job with the competition.

No idea if true but this looks like the end of the road for him with AMD.
Didn't know about divergences he had with the rest of AMD not even about the leak you're talking about, but i have the same feeling, we won't be seeing him as RTG head anymore too.
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tpi2007 View Post

Did he really need padding for his CV? He had already been the graphics CTO of AMD before he left for Apple in 2009 and then he's got the role of director of graphics architecture at Apple in his resume.

If he really wanted to go somewhere, why not just apply? Why return to AMD?
Return to AMD? Article I'm mentioning is probably 3-4 years old, this was reported as all not well in amd graphics. Around time when 290x came out I think.

It would appear to me things have run their course.

And lets face it, he hasn't done a bad job working on a limited budget. But everyone knows the stuff that goes on in companies, every large company has politics and power struggles.
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newbie2009 View Post

Return to AMD? Article I'm mentioning is probably 3-4 years old, this was reported as all not well in amd graphics. Around time when 290x came out I think.

It would appear to me things have run their course.

And lets face it, he hasn't done a bad job working on a limited budget. But everyone knows the stuff that goes on in companies, every large company has politics and power struggles.
You initially said "a couple of years", hence why I presumed we were already talking about him as presiding over RTG:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newbie2009 View Post

Semi accurate reported on the radeon situation a couple of years back and if they were accurate, this would make sense.

Bet he gets a job at intel.
But if the article is from the time of the R9 290X launch, well, he had just rejoined the company earlier that year, in April of 2013, and he wasn't head of RTG back then, which didn't even exist.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tpi2007 View Post

You initially said "a couple of years", hence why I presumed we were already talking about him as presiding over RTG:
But if the article is from the time of the R9 290X launch, well, he had just rejoined the company earlier that year, in April of 2013, and he wasn't head of RTG back then, which didn't even exist.
You may be correct. As I said there was a power struggle, him pushing one way. He became head of the new division so he must have gotten his way. I'm trying to find the article. Anyway will post if i find.
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Newbie2009 View Post

You may be correct. As I said there was a power struggle, him pushing one way. He became head of the new division so he must have gotten his way. I'm trying to find the article. Anyway will post if i find.
Sure enough, but when he rejoined he was 44, it's only natural to aspire to a higher post, so I still don't see how that would mean him specifically padding his CV for then to apply to work at Intel. Everybody knows Intel could use a hand in their GPU department, so after having worked at AMD for years until 2009 and then at Apple until 2013, returning to AMD to then pad his resume to then try his luck at Intel seems a little far fetched, especially as Intel's focus on GPUs has always been secondary; Intel may have wanted him, but I doubt that he'd want to work there given what he would be allowed to do. If anything, he clearly laid out what he was willing to do and AMD said yes, including him keeping his film making side project, which he cites as the reason he chose AMD. If there was a power struggle it probably began right away, but as you said, he probably won.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by tpi2007 View Post

I'd say that he and everybody else at AMD probably reached the conclusion that he is not tailored to be running the RTG on a daily basis, at least not without some major help; it seems that come December when he comes back he will be devoting more time to the architecting / engineering part, which is what he does best.
That would make sense.
Though it does depend on how this has happened. If it was forced on him unpleasantly, he might not just move to engineering and might feel that it is time to find someplace else.
If he asked for it, he will most likely stay to concentrate on what he is doing better.
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by oxidized View Post

The likely thing is, him going back working on architectures, and leaving someone else as RTG head, we'll know in a few months probably
Well, he expressly said so in the article:
Quote:
As we enter 2018, I will be shifting my focus more toward architecting and realizing this vision and rebalancing my operational responsibilities.
Also, it definitelly speaks volumes of how the guys upstairs might feel about him since how he talks about the VEGA launch:
Quote:
...my sincere heartfelt thanks to all of you who endured the Vega journey with me
 
#20 ·
I honestly hope he wasn't pushed and I hope he comes back in some capacity.

But sometimes fresh blood is just needed to get a fresh perspective.
 
#21 ·
If he made the decision that VEGA be jack of all trades and master of none, he needed to lose that responsibility. Separate computing and gaming cards are needed, otherwise the transistors are more but performance is less than Nvidia's equivalents. Higher cost + lower price = dead margins, as AMD undoubtedly knows.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by dir_d View Post

AMD realized that he's better with the nerds in R&D than sitting behind a desk orchestrating a launch. I'm actually really excited for this and hopefully Navi will see the benifit of Raja having a more hands on approach.
Navi is probably already down with the design. Any changes now will likely be small.
 
#23 ·
Quote:
RTG Team,

You haven't heard from me collectively in a while - a symptom not only of the whirlwind of launching Vega, but simply of the huge number of demands on my time since the formation of RTG. Looking back over this short period, it is an impressive view. We have delivered 6 straight quarters of double-digit growth in graphics, culminating in the launch of Vega and being back in high-performance. What we have done with Vega is unparalleled. We entered the high-end gaming, professional workstation and machine intelligence markets with Vega in a very short period of time. The demand for Vega (and Polaris!) is fantastic, and overall momentum for our graphics is strong.

Incredibly, we as AMD also managed to spectacularly re-enter the high-performance CPU segments this year. We are all exceptionally proud of Ryzen, Epyc and Threadripper. The computing world is not the same anymore and the whole world is cheering for AMD. Congratulations and thanks to those of you in RTG who helped see these products through. The market for high-performance computing is on an explosive growth trajectory driven by machine intelligence, visual cloud, blockchain and other exciting new workloads. Our vision of immersive and instinctive computing is within grasp. As we enter 2018, I will be shifting my focus more toward architecting and realizing this vision and rebalancing my operational responsibilities.

At the beginning of the year I warned that Vega would be hard. At the time, some folks didn't believe me. Now many of you understand what I said. Vega was indeed hard on many, and my sincere heartfelt thanks to all of you who endured the Vega journey with me. Vega was personally hard on me as well and I used up a lot of family credits during this journey. I have decided to take a time-off in Q4 to spend time with my family. I have been contemplating this for a while now and there was never a good time to do this. Lisa and I agreed that Q4 is better than 2018, before the next wave of product excitement. Lisa will be acting as the leader of RTG during by absence. My sincere thanks to Lisa and rest of AET for supporting me in this decision and agreeing to take on additional workload during my absence.

I am looking to start my time-off on Sept 25th and return in December.

Thank you, all of you, for your unwavering focus, dedication and support over these past months, and for helping us to build something incredible. We are not done yet, and keep the momentum going!

Regards, Raja
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11836/raja-koduri-sabbatical

From the writing on the wall, sort of speaking, Raja is going back to engineering. Also, and is very telling, there might be some sort of refresh or new arch that will be announced next year.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nightbird View Post

If he made the decision that VEGA be jack of all trades and master of none, he needed to lose that responsibility. Separate computing and gaming cards are needed, otherwise the transistors are more but performance is less than Nvidia's equivalents. Higher cost + lower price = dead margins, as AMD undoubtedly knows.
I agree with this assessment. I do believe that AMD/RTG needs to get back to the core root of what this video card supposed to do. They have in the past taken out loans they can do it again if need be for this product. However according to the letter that Raja sent it's not clear if we're going to see a Vega refresh or just go to Navi in 2018. But it does appear that we might see some sort of shakeup soon enough.
 
#24 ·
That's good to hear.
 
#26 ·
I just can't get rid of this nagging feeling that Fury/Vega, so far, was more geared for Apple than for PC. Especially when it comes to the lack luster aspect of higher overclocking. If not, appears to be a template of sorts. Time will tell if a refresh, or new upc/sku will reflect this or not.
 
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