Raja Koduri officially resigns from AMD and Radeon Technologies Group

Shortly after the RX Vega GPU finally hit the market, we learned that Radeon Technologies Group head, Raja Koduri, would be taking a three month sabbatical. Initially, he was set to return before the end of the year, but just under two months in to his break, Koduri has decided to step down and leave AMD and RTG behind.

Raja Koduri initially returned to AMD in 2013. Eventually, the folks at AMD spun-off the graphics division into the Radeon Technologies Group and placed him in charge. During this time, we saw an increased focus on quality, timely driver updates. We also saw RTG push to bring new tech to the forefront, like HBM, while exploring new architecture, as we saw with Polaris and Vega.

Here is the internal memo Koduri sent to AMD employees announcing his departure, obtained by Hexus:

“To my AMD family,

Forty is a significant number in history. It is a number representing transition, testing and change. I have just spent forty days away from the office going through such a transition. It was an important time with my family, and it also offered me a rare space for reflection. During this time I have come to the extremely difficult conclusion that it is time for me to leave RTG and AMD.

I have no question in my mind that RTG, and AMD, are marching firmly in the right direction as high-performance computing becomes ever-more-important in every aspect of our lives. I believe wholeheartedly in what we are doing with Vega, Navi and beyond, and I am incredibly proud of how far we have come and where we are going. The whole industry has stood up and taken notice of what we are doing. As I think about how computing will evolve, I feel more and more that I want to pursue my passion beyond hardware and explore driving broader solutions.

I want to thank Lisa and the AET for enabling me to pursue my passion during the last four years at AMD, and especially the last two years with RTG. Lisa has my utmost respect for exhibiting the courage to enable me with RTG, for believing in me and for going out of her way to support me. I would also like to call out Mark Papermaster who brought me into AMD, for his huge passion for technology and for his relentless support through many difficult phases. And of course, I want to thank each and every one of my direct staff and my indirect staff who have worked so hard with me to build what we have now got. I am very proud of the strong leaders we have and I’m fully confident that they can execute on the compelling roadmap ahead.

I will continue to be an ardent fan and user of AMD technologies for both personal and professional use.

As I mentioned, leaving AMD and RTG has been an extremely difficult decision for me. But I felt it is the right one for me personally at this point. Time will tell. I will be following with great interest the progress you will make over the next several years.

On a final note, I have asked a lot of you in the last two years. You’ve always delivered. You’ve made me successful both personally and professionally, for which I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I have these final requests from you as I leave:

. Stay focused on the roadmap!
. Deliver on your commitments!
. Continue the culture of Passion, Persistence and Play!
. Make AMD proud!
. Make me proud!

Yours,
Raja”

AMD has also independently confirmed that Raja Koduri is no longer with the company. During his leave, AMD CEO, Lisa Su, took control of the Radeon Technologies Group. It is unclear at this time whether or not she will remain in charge, or find a replacement to lead the ship.

KitGuru Says: With Raja now out, it will be interesting to see how things progress over at RTG throughout 2018. We know that the company is readying Navi, but one would hope that it won't be set back by the same delays we saw with Vega. The timing on this is particularly interesting, as we learned earlier this week that Intel had tapped RTG to provide on-board graphics for new Core H-series laptop processors. 

Become a Patron!