Screw the Idiot List(tm). Talk about this article! (pt 1)
techweb.com
AMD's Ruiz Learns Lines As Sanders' Understudy
Jun 26, 2000 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- NEW YORK -- So what do you do if
your job is to backstop one of the most outspoken men in the semiconductor
industry?
Speak softly, like Advanced Micro Devices' new president, Hector Ruiz, and learn
the business. However, because of the shadow cast by AMD's (stock: AMD) dynamic
chief executive, Jerry Sanders, Ruiz may have one of the easier jobs in the
industry.
After speaking briefly during his appointment in January, Ruiz has left most of
the public bombast to the outspoken Sanders, remaining in the background during
recent earnings calls. But Ruiz sat down with reporters the day before the PC
Expo show here in New York, and explained his view of AMD and his own role
during the 18 months or so before he is expected to succeed Sanders as chief
executive at the end of next year.
Ruiz describes himself as "not a manufacturing guy and not a technology guy,"
and that Sanders and Ruiz are "kind of the couple that runs the place."
"[Sanders] likes to be telling the marketplace, making the AMD story known," he
said. "We share the leadership of the company... in a very collegiate way."
Ruiz left Mexico at 18 and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with
a degree in engineering. After joining Texas Instruments (stock: TXN), he later
departed as a junior engineer to join Al Stein and others at Motorola (stock:
MOT). After rising to the top of Motorola's Semiconductor Products Group, he was
told by Sanders over dinner ?to find a real job,? he said.
Ruiz, who notes that Sanders has referred to him as the "heir apparent," hopes
to quietly succeed the outspoken Sanders next year.
"My job is to make [the transition] so smooth, people will ask, 'When did that
happen?'" he said.
For Ruiz, the transition will indeed be smoothed by the confluence of a strong
semiconductor industry, a strong PC industry, the high demand for flash memory,
and AMD's newfound ability to execute consistently, and in some cases even
better, than rival Intel (stock: INTC). AMD's flash memory supply, for example,
is sold out through the end of this year in all configurations, Ruiz said.
In 2000, analyst firm Mercury Research estimates that 2.8 million MP3 players
will be sold, and 7.4 million will be sold in 2001. Essentially, an MP3 player
is simply flash memory and some associated logic.
Ruiz' challenges will be to move AMD's mainstream Athlon microprocessors into
the commercial, mobile, and server markets, he said. AMD has penetrated into
most of these areas already, and could be said to have yet to stake a real claim
in each. On the other hand, AMD has also laid out a path to success for Ruiz and
AMD to follow. |
