AMD Radeon Technologies Group Raja Koduri Takes Sabbatical

TobyR

2017-09-13 15:25

This amounts to about 8weeks which is not a rare amount of vacation time for an Exec. People want this to be an issue so it is.

#5471666

Denial

2017-09-13 15:32

TobyR:

This amounts to about 8weeks which is not a rare amount of vacation time for an Exec. People want this to be an issue so it is.

Yeah, I can't believe how much drama this is creating. On reddit people are like speculating all kinds of insane stuff - god forbid the guy just decides to go on an extended vacation after shipping two radically different architectures back to back.

#5471679

H83

2017-09-13 16:44

Denial:

Yeah, I can't believe how much drama this is creating. On reddit people are like speculating all kinds of insane stuff - god forbid the guy just decides to go on an extended vacation after shipping two radically different architectures back to back.

It´s not a question of creating drama. It´s just that there are several examples of execs who messed up, then went on extended "vacations" and when their vacations ended instead of resuming their jobs, they wrote a letter saying they found more about life and what´s really important and so on and then they left the company in the end... Maybe you´re right and he just went on vacation normally but there´s also a strong possibility that AMD wants him to leave without making too much fuss... Because we have to face it, Vega was a failure in many ways and someone has to pay for it even if they little to do with the failure...

#5471687

Clouseau

2017-09-13 17:03

This amounts to about 8weeks which is not a rare amount of vacation time for an Exec...

quick search shows that AMD has a sabbatical program that is eight weeks in length. They settled a class action suit in 2014 regarding said program. All it is is an added perk to valued employees in addition to "vacation;" still paid leave.

... First, sabbatical leave that is granted infrequently must be intended to retain experienced employees who have devoted a significant period of service to the employer. Second, the length of the leave should be adequate to achieve the employer’s purpose and should be longer than that normally offered as vacation. Since regular vacation time may be used for rest, a sabbatical ought to provide the extended time off work that regular vacation does not. Third, a legitimate sabbatical will always be granted in addition to regular vacation. Because an employer could offer a minimal vacation plan and reward senior staff with sabbaticals as a way to avoid the financial liability of a more generous vacation plan, the employer’s regular vacation policy should be comparable to the average vacation benefit offered in the relevant market. Fourth, since a sabbatical is designed to retain valued employees, a legitimate sabbatical program should incorporate some feature that demonstrates that the employee taking the sabbatical is expected to return to work for the employer after the leave is over...

@ Denial: People much rather stir the pot then to seek out the definition of such practices. All the craziness is a result of "...a little bit of information is dangerous..." scenario. Here's a good one, they placed him on leave to have time to find a replacement that could do a better job than the fiasco Vega is. LOL, once worked for a company that sent you your pink slip in the mail while on suspension. The only other way one was fired was being asked to lunch by the HR Director; a lunch you never returned from...

#5471694

waltc3

2017-09-13 17:34

After such a resounding successes all around, the guy is taking some time off. Big deal...;) He announced that he was planning to spend some time with his family way back during the AMD Vega shows that I noted that he almost single-handedly presented. Yep, taking some time off and returning to work in December. Wow, what earth-shaking news is that [not]...;)

#5471700

tsunami231

2017-09-13 17:51

Kaarme:

Somehow Nvidia can manufacture enough GPUs to satisfy the demand while AMD cannot. That should be a big worry for AMD. People can't buy their products if no products are available for purchase, so it's lost sales and lost money.

nvidia can? everytime i get the urge to buy a 1060gtx i see "sold out/back ordered/discontinued" and few that do find i interested have there price inflated.

#5471708

tunejunky

2017-09-13 18:19

jeez i feel like a salmon going upstream... ok guys, just because you've pledged allegiance to one type of gpu doesn't make you more informed or even correct. it makes you a desired demographic - that's all. just because something doesn't live up to your expectation doesn't make it bad. especially if it is sold out and back-ordered. and yeah, miners use Nvidia gpu's too - they're just less efficient (for miners) with a lower hash rate. so Nvidia has felt pressure from mining as well. in fact, the more gamers pooh-pooh a given card, the more miners will buy (as long as it has good hash rates)...just look to the rx 580 - roundly dismissed by most gamers as a weak refresh - does amazingly well for miners- still sold out months after launch. Trust me, Nvidia is more worried about AMD than their supply pipeline. One product series will neither make or break AMD (unless Ryzen was a disaster- which its not) both AMD and Nvidia are deeply financed public companies. AMD could have a total fail with Vega (they don't and it isn't) and still survive until Navi. Just remember Elon Musk, despite his doubters and haters, is the first automaker since Henry Ford to be as successful with a product launch and/or the way people laughed and said he was crazy building a rocket company... Lisa Su (and Raj Koduri) have delivered everything they said they would and more.

#5471737

Srsbsns

2017-09-13 19:51

Kaarme:

Somehow Nvidia can manufacture enough GPUs to satisfy the demand while AMD cannot. That should be a big worry for AMD. People can't buy their products if no products are available for purchase, so it's lost sales and lost money.

Looks in stock in the US. https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007709%20600100181%20601301599 I guess now you will say since they are in stock they must not be selling well.... Its one or the other.

#5471779

PrMinisterGR

2017-09-13 21:26

Vega as a product will be making a ton of money from AMD, probably the more money since Hawaii, or even more. The need for rest is something everybody has. As for the people mocking Navi, NVIDIA has GPU "Infinity Fabric" in a whitepaper, AMD has been shipping it for more than two months now. PS: AMD has far larger manufacturing capacities than NVIDIA, they just don't want to keep stock (which is the best idea in a company that tries to be profitable). They ship all the consoles except the switch, all the Ryzen/Threadrippers/EPYCs, and even extra stuff (like ram) on top.

#5471782

airbud7

2017-09-13 21:39

Sounds like the Dude just needs a break and kick back with the family.....maybe smoke some weed and chill out...That's all....Give him a break...

#5471783

Denial

2017-09-13 21:40

PrMinisterGR:

As for the people mocking Navi, NVIDIA has GPU "Infinity Fabric" in a whitepaper, AMD has been shipping it for more than two months now.

Nvidia's variant of Infinity Fabric is NVLink - it's a multi-node fabric, has similar bandwidth (more with Volta), latency and interconnects with other fabrics (notably infiniband) through PHY standards. The white paper is more about utilizing that fabric, or any fabric to support an MCM design - which is also what AMD plans on doing with Navi & IF. Nvidia doesn't use NVLink on any consumer based parts but that's more of like a HBM2 vs GDDR5x decision, where Nvidia doesn't feel it's necessary. I think AMD will beat Nvidia to shipping an MCM design but again, I think this is a case of Nvidia not feeling it's necessary yet moreso than AMD just straight up outpacing their design.

#5471793

__hollywood|meo

2017-09-13 22:22

kastriot:

i mean why should be made public that he is going on extended vaccation lol..

probably because hes been a very active presence online lately & the community would certainly notice...& find it odd if he vanished for months, which would lead to gossip about him being forced out or retiring. somewat amusingly, this effectively public announcement lead to the same speculation. im sure he anticipated that, however

Denial:

Yeah, I can't believe how much drama this is creating. On reddit people are like speculating all kinds of insane stuff - god forbid the guy just decides to go on an extended vacation after shipping two radically different architectures back to back.

im not surprised. leddit as a group is quick to pick up on new information - but they never know how to properly parse, much less disseminate it. thats the issue in such a large community with wide demographics or broad appeal (yes even in their subforums)...you cluster any significant amount of regular normal jackass people together, & guess wat they do? yup. they squawk, gossip, & henpeck others, conform to flock rules in order to fit in/gain approval, & just act insufferably average in general. but thats neither here nor there, so ill leave that tangent right where it is & move on

#5471809

umeng2002

2017-09-13 23:39

He won't be back... mark my words.

#5471810

Kaarme

2017-09-13 23:39

Srsbsns:

Looks in stock in the US. https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007709 600100181 601301599 I guess now you will say since they are in stock they must not be selling well.... Its one or the other.

Vega 64 finally appeared here a long time after it was supposedly sold elsewhere and is now available. Shops are barely bothering to even list 56 because there's nothing to sell and nobody knows when they might get them. I'm not going to say such a thing because I've already said in another thread that the normal situation would be the cards occasionally running out somewhere but typically being available, which would indicate they are selling as planned but they aren't accumulating in warehouses. Yet when a person wants to buy a card they would get it without needing to wait for weeks, which might prompt them to get a competing product instead.

tsunami231:

nvidia can? everytime i get the urge to buy a 1060gtx i see "sold out/back ordered/discontinued" and few that do find i interested have there price inflated.

There was a relatively brief period with a poor Nvidia supply and the prices naturally rose, but it was nothing compared to what happened to Polaris 470-580. Even dusty old 390(x)s and Fury (x)s disappeared from shops. I have no idea why in your parts the 1060 would be so hard to get.

#5471811

Srsbsns

2017-09-13 23:44

Kaarme:

Vega 64 finally appeared here a long time after it was supposedly sold elsewhere and is now available. Shops are barely bothering to even list 56 because there's nothing to sell and nobody knows when they might get them. I'm not going to say such a thing because I've already said in another thread that the normal situation would be the cards occasionally running out somewhere but typically being available, which would indicate they are selling as planned but they aren't accumulating in warehouses. Yet when a person wants to buy a card they would get it without needing to wait for weeks, which might prompt them to get a competing product instead. There was a relatively brief period with a poor Nvidia supply and the prices naturally rose, but it was nothing compared to what happened to Polaris 470-580. Even dusty old 390(x)s and Fury (x)s disappeared from shops. I have no idea why in your parts the 1060 would be so hard to get.

Once could assume Vega 56 being out of stock means the yields of Vega 64 is going well since Vega 56 are the ones that didn't make it. You could also theorize that Vega 56 is the most popular based on what we have been reading on Guru3D as well as other sites.

#5472164

Koniakki

2017-09-14 22:10

tsunami231:

nvidia can? everytime i get the urge to buy a 1060gtx i see "sold out/back ordered/discontinued" and few that do find i interested have there price inflated.

Cheap used 980Ti maybe? 😉

#5472185

airbud7

2017-09-15 00:02

Koniakki:

Cheap used 980Ti maybe? 😉

Agree^....But dam they are high as heck where I'm at...I would trade my 480/4 in a second for a 980ti...

#5472186

ObscureangelPT

2017-09-15 00:08

I think he just wants to relax and party a little bit 😛 http://i.imgur.com/thCSaDS.gif (Yes, it's him on the GIF smoking and dancing)

#5472198

sverek

2017-09-15 02:07

Somebody mentioned he f4cked up more than he allowed to. I think it's a gentle way to say step back, Raja. Maybe we'll see him again as engineer, but not leading. AFAIK Lisa took CPU department to her hands and come out with Ryzen. She might as well step in for GPU department.

#5472200

yasamoka

2017-09-15 02:58

sverek:

Somebody mentioned he f4cked up more than he allowed to. I think it's a gentle way to say step back, Raja. Maybe we'll see him again as engineer, but not leading. AFAIK Lisa took CPU department to her hands and come out with Ryzen. She might as well step in for GPU department.

... Do yourself a favor and just read through the thread first, focusing particularly on a previous post explaining what AMD's sabbatical program is exactly.