Interview: Rick
Bergman uncensored
Fudzilla had
the chance to ask five question to the highest ranking ex ATI
executive at AMD and we used the opportunity. Dave Orton and Rick
Hedberg left AMD but Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President and General Manager for AMD’s Graphics Products Group, one of the key driving forces of
ATI still sticked around with the company, being prepared for the
next challenges. This is what came out of it.
Fudzilla:
How does AMD's graphics division feel a year after acquisition?
Rick Bergman: We feel good
about where we are in our discrete graphics business. We have a
competitive portfolio of products with the Radeon HD 2000 series and
have enjoyed strong success with our OEM and channel partners. Moving
into 2008 we feel very confident about our strategy and product
plans. We have a range of new desktop and mobile products in the
pipeline over the next 6-9 months that will raise the bar on
performance, power efficiency and overall visual computing
innovation.
During 2007, we introduced
major innovations such as UVD, native HDMI and tesselator. Of
course, we are also the leader with the only 65nm GPUs for the best
power and performance. It has been a busy year for us, but the best
is still coming.
Fudzilla:
Does ATI (AMD graphic) plans to return to a high end market and
fight Nvidia?
Rick
Bergman: AMD never left the market for high end
graphics and we’ll continue to target the enthusiast segment with
our next generation of products. Expect to see some very interesting
products in the next few months.
Fudzilla:
Can a IGP+ discrete graphic result with a significant performance and
any plans for such a concept?
Rick Bergman: IGP-assisted
rendering is certainly an interesting concept to deliver multi-GPU to
a broader segment of the market. As multi-GPU moves more into the
mainstream there are some interesting opportunities to expand the
footprint of this technology.
With our Fusion products
coming, there is certainly an opportunity to extend this capability
even further. That being said, I’m not ready to comment on any
future product plans.
Fudzilla:
What does ATI plan to do about notebook market in 2008?
Rick
Bergman: The notebook market continues to be an important one for AMD
and was one of the key drivers for the acquisition. Historically, ATI
had a strong leadership position in mobile discrete graphics and we
plan to reaffirm this over the next 12 months.
Fudzilla:
What is the future of ATI’s graphic chips?
Rick Bergman: AMD is committed
to winning in the discrete graphics business. We continue to focus on
delivering new generations of products that push the envelope on
performance, power efficiency and high definition entertainment.
We
have an incredibly dedicated team of engineers and marketing
individuals that are committed to bring innovation and excitement to
the graphics market for years to come.
That is all folks but in the future we'll bring you more.
