Even more fusion after the latest AMD reorganization

In the business press and in business marketing, the term "merger" is often used quite loosely, sometimes to mean the incorporation of another company as a division of the acquirer. When AMD acquired ATI in July 2006, the merger was touted as a pairing of equals, and the forging of a permanent fraternity between two giants in their respective fields. But almost immediately afterward, talk of ways to build processors that used AMD cores and ATI pipelines together led to discussion about truly fusing the two divisions' business units; and the first sign of the fallout from that discussion was former ATI CEO Dave Orton's departure from the AMD executive ranks in July 2007.

Almost precisely one year ago, the actual fusion of the two divisions began, with the creation of a Central Engineering group that would conduct research and development for all the company's processors. Freescale Semiconductor veteran Chekib Akrout was brought in to lead that department, but in a partnership arrangement with AMD veteran Jeff VerHeul. Yesterday afternoon, AMD announced the remainder of its fusion is complete: As AMD spokesperson Drew Prairie explained to Betanews this morning, there is now one marketing department and one product management department as well, while some of the functionality of Akrout's department is being shifted.

"Chekib will be in charge of long-term technology development -- IP cores, CPU cores, GPU cores, and putting the building blocks in place," Prairie told us. Meanwhile, "Rick Bergman will lead a unified product development and management organization."

In the AMD vernacular which dates back a few decades, a "core" is a complete component of intellectual property -- it's the thing a company builds upon in order to create a platform. Since Akrout's ascension at AMD's research arm, he's been actively in charge of the "Stars" core, which is currently at the heart of its Phenom processor line. The first culmination of AMD's technology acquisition from ATI, the "Accelerated Processing Unit" (APU), is part of a platform code-named "Shrike" which builds on the Stars core.

Just last week, in a planned Q&A released by AMD, Akrout was asked to describe his job at what was still being called Central Engineering: "At the high level, it's managing the decision-making around what technology we will be using and developing at AMD. That includes longer term R&D considerations, as well as new directions and specific innovations we'll be incorporating into the product line. On top of that, I'm responsible for managing all of AMD's IP development ??" core processors for all market segments and associated IP such as analog, I/Os, accelerators and memory."

Until today, VerHeul was paired with Akrout in the Central Engineering department in building a technology plan around the Stars core. After today, however, VerHeul's duties are shifted to the product management department, led by Rick Bergman. The idea there is to "product-ize" the company's fusion-oriented technologies, although as Prairie explained, that won't mean an acceleration of AMD's current roadmap.

"There are no changes to our roadmaps one way or the other," he told Betanews. "The goal of the organization is to keep the pedal to the metal with discrete CPUs and GPUs, but give more opportunities for fusion." For example, Bergman will now be working with VerHeul in the development of already-planned platforms that build on Phenom II, the latest incarnation of the Stars core.

After Akrout was brought on board last year, quarter-century AMD veteran Randy Allen was moved from his former homebase in servers and workstations to oversee more consumer-oriented products. That move seemed a bit ominous at the time, and now Allen has decided to leave the company. Prairie declined to discuss what may have led to Allen's decision, though he confirmed that decision was his and not the company's.

From an outside perspective, Prairie said, there really won't be that much of a change at AMD, and the org chart doesn't change all that much. VerHeul had been working hand-in-hand with Akrout in moving Stars core products; now he'll be working with Bergman to move Phenom products. "The new charter of Rick's organization is soup-to-nuts," he told us, "to get the products out the door." In that respect, he added, the characterization by the business press this morning of ATI and AMD actually merging yesterday is "a lazy word choice."

Inside those doors, however, the change is much bigger -- that one organization that's being shifted between departments is essentially the heart of AMD right now. One immediate change that takes place as a result is that VerHeul's focus won't just be on fusion products, but instead "to take advantage of any and all the platform opportunities we have," said Prairie.

But does this conclusive zipping up of the last paired business units to be working in tandem mean that the final piece of evidence of ATI's existence -- its brand name -- will also be folded in? While AMD's Prairie characterized that event as highly unlikely, he would not close the door on his employer's behalf, telling Betanews: "I wouldn't rush to any implications as to what the branding implications may or may not be."