Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

AMD Names Lenovo COO Rory P. Read as Its New CEO

The long CEO search at chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices is over. AMD today named Rory P. Read, the COO of Chinese PC maker Lenovo, as its next CEO.

The end of the search comes just as suddenly as it began, with Dirk Meyer’s surprise resignation in January. The search was a tough one, in no small part because AMD — whose business is already complicated by the fact that it has to compete with Intel — is widely seen as missing the boat on key new markets like mobile computing and tablets.

It’s equally surprising that there were no leaks about this hiring, though word had circulated that several A-list executives had been approached and turned the job down. Among them: Pat Gelsinger, COO of EMC and a former CTO of Intel, said no twice; both Michael Capellas, the former CEO of WorldCom and Compaq, and William Nuti, CEO of NCR, turned down AMD’s inquiries.

So, who is Rory Read? His bio at Lenovo says he led that company’s American unit to a $140 million surge in profitability in 2007, and revenue grew 14 percent on his watch. Before that, he spent 23 years at IBM — remember that Lenovo bought out IBM’s PC division for $1.75 billion in 2005.

AMD shares rose 10 cents, or more than 1.5 percent, as of 10:40 AM Eastern time.

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