For the first time since it was founded in the 1970s, Advanced Micro Devices
will have a new chief executive officer in Hector de Ruiz. Ruiz will take over
his position from AMD founder and chairman Jerry Sanders. The promotion will
take effect in April 2002.
The move is part of the process of preparing AMD for a life without the
flamboyant, controversial and energetic Sanders, who will continue to serve as
chairman from 2003. Ruiz is currently AMD's president, and chief operating
officer. "Since he joined AMD in January 2000, Ruiz has taken charge of the
day-to-day operations and launched a number of initiatives to improve our
operational performance and efficiency," Sanders said in an announcement.
Ruiz had joined AMD from Motorola as Sanders’ heir apparent. Sanders, 64,
is scheduled to retire this December. But, he agreed to add a few months to
allow a smoother transition. "Jerry Sanders is one of the true visionary
leaders of the semiconductor industry, and the driving force behind AMD since
its founding, over 30 years ago," said Charles Black, an AMD board member.
Sanders had, on an earlier occasion, expressed his wish to retire from
service. But this did not happen for nearly two years since the firm’s launch
of high-end Athlon chip forced it to compete head-to-head with rival Intel in
the desktop and notebook computer market. AMD earned $793.8 million on $4.6
billion in sales in the previous year compared to its losses of $88.9 million on
sales of $2.9 billion in 1999.
With his retirement, Sanders will be the last of the group of original
pioneers who built Silicon Valley’s semiconductor industry, to leave the
industry. While Intel’s Robert Noyce passed away, partner Gordon Moore and
National Semiconductor chief Charley Sporck retired a decade ago.
Sanders, like Sporck, Noyce and Moore, came from the original Fairchild
Semiconductor company in Mountain View where he was vice president of sales and
marketing. Sanders started AMD by producing ICs for business applications that
were stress-tested under the same rigorous standards set by the Pentagon for ICs
used in military systems.