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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maverick who wrote (25934)	11/13/1997 8:42:00 PM
From: LTK007	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1582732

Digital Jam butchered their report on Vinod Dham's resignation by saying he was forced out because of the failure of K6 to succeed in the marketplace leaving the erroneous impression that sales were poor because on getting to the marketplace they were met with indifference. He is of course gone for the failure to get it to market in proper numbers. Also Scott Allen's quote saying that the future of AMD depends on the ability to get .25 in full production in Austin,Fab 25 plant and states they are still failing to do so --- these words from Allen makes me hesitate now regards my idea to recover my paper loss in AMD by adding on stock if it should get to 15 as Allen is implying that if they fail in their objective AMD is in deep,deep trouble. Welcome responses but will not waste my time reading any post from Yousef and the that other guy or guys--Stockman or whatever. Maxfield G.

To: Maverick who wrote (25934)	11/13/1997 8:47:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1582732

---------------------------------------------------------------------- AMD 'savior' splits By Larry Barrett November 13, 1997 ZDNN Vinod Dham, who led development of Intel Corp.'s Pentium chip and was lauded as a possible savior for struggling Advanced Micro Devices Inc., resigned Thursday from the Sunnyvale, Calif., chip maker. The resignation comes almost a month after Chief Executive Officer Jerry Sanders demoted Dham from his post as vice president of AMD's Computation Products Group, according to Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Loewenbaum & Co. AMD officials said Dham was never officially demoted. "It was kind of evident at the analysts' meeting last week in Santa Clara what was happening," said Kumar. "Vin was a sideshow there, not nearly as prominent as he was when they rolled out their K6 chip." Kumar said the demotion, which took place in mid-September, meant that Dham was no longer running the firm's microprocessor division. "Before the demotion, he was reporting directly to Atiq Raza, but things changed," Kumar said. "Obviously, the K6 processor was his baby, and so far, the execution has failed miserably. There was no way Sanders was going to take the full hit for this, so Vin was the scapegoat." Dham and Raza, who currently serves as chief technology officer, came to AMD in a package deal when the company acquired NexGen Inc. in October 1995. The former NexGen operations had been integrated into AMD as the California Microprocessors Division. AMD spokeswoman Dyan Chan said AMD had accepted Dham's immediate resignation, but offered few details. "He didn't say what his immediate or long-term plans were," Chan said. "Obviously, he was a big part of the team that brought the K6 processor to market, and we appreciate his efforts." Mario Morales, a semiconductor analyst at International Data Corp., said the K6 chip so far has failed to meet the expectations set by AMD's honchos. "This is probably related mainly to the yield problems they've been having with the K6 chip," he said. "Dham was really pushing for the next generation and Jerry Sanders probably decided to put the brakes on it." Known for his design prowess and project loyalty, Dham spent 16 years at Intel in that company's x86 program that included overseeing development of the Pentium microprocessor. But all the loyalty and hype in the world couldn't solve AMD's production difficulties. Company officials in late September announced what most analysts had expected for some time: lower-than-expected yields on the K6 microprocessor would result in an operating loss substantially larger than anticipated in the third quarter. Sure enough, AMD reported a third-quarter loss of $31 million, or 22 cents per share, on revenues of $596 million. Jonathon Joseph, an analyst at Nations Bank Montgomery Securities, summed up the company's troubles. "Their strategy is flawed because they're pricing their chips at 25 percent below what Intel's fifth-generation Pentiums go for," he said. "They're not doing this because they want to, but because the market is making them." "The yield difficulties is a serious issue because it causes two big problems," Joseph said. "It costs more to manufacture because you have fewer good die candidates and the speed grades are hit, too." Ironically, it was Raza, Dham's longtime colleague, who was most optimistic about the K6 chip. "Many people distanced themselves from K6, as the project seemed overly ambitious," Raza said in a recent interview with India-West newspaper. "There was a disbelief and a near-universal feeling that it couldn't be done. But in a top-level meeting with AMD/NexGen management, I offered to take on complete responsibility for development of the chip. I was willing to stick my neck out and be accountable for any problems." Attempts to contact both Dham and Raza were unsuccessful. "Life is not fair," Kamur said. "Dham has a lot of experience and will land on his feet. But I'm not as sure about AMD."

To: Maverick who wrote (25934)	11/13/1997 9:58:00 PM
From: Xpiderman	Respond to of 1582732

>>AMD would not specify why Dham resigned. But analysts speculated he was forced out by Chief Executive Jerry Sanders because of K6's slow start. ... ..."Basically Vinod has a pretty strong personality, having been so many years at Intel, and Jerry (Sanders) doesn't have many strong personalities around him," said David Wu, analyst at ABN AMRO Chicago Corp.<< I wonder why Sander force Dham out? If the personality thing is the reason, then Sander is too "Good" to be the CEO. Will this affect thee next genaration chips, K7?