We heard a story about why Henry Richard really left AMD. He said in one of the interviews that the time was right, but of course there is more to it than that.

Henry expected that Hector Ruiz, the CEO of AMD would promote him over Dirk Mayer and give him the chance to become the next CEO. We heard that Henry Richard is a very good marketing manager, but that he lacked some experience when it came to leading the whole of AMD.

When Hector promoted Dirk this was a clear signal that this alpha male would be the next CEO and Henry simply didn't want to stay on as the number two or three man for the rest of his time.

At the same time Freescale semiconductor, a company lead by a French CEO Michel Mayer, offered him a job and Henry, his countryman, accepted this senior position. He did it mainly as Freescale is yet to go public. Once that happens he could become a rich man and finally it all make sense.