AMD's CTO Departure Sparks Dresden Plant Speculation.

The shock departure of Advanced Micro Devices Inc's chief technology officer, Atiq Raza, may have been due to more than the personal reasons cited at the time, according to a report in a local Austin, Texas newspaper, the Austin American Statesman. The paper suggests that Raza wanted to close AMD's new $1.9bn chip plant in Dresden, Germany and clashed with CEO Jerry Saunders over the issue.

Raza's departure, which coincided with the release of terrible second quarter results, was a blow for AMD. The CTO had been credited with building the team that created the new K7/Athlon chip. He told the paper that he had left his position because he was missing a sense of satisfaction in his work. However, it is suggested that Raza wanted to sell the Dresden plant and Saunders blocked him. Raza told the paper that he wouldn't characterize it that way. He and Saunders were "not at cross-purposes in understanding that the company has to be able to operate at lower expense levels. You always have differences in opinion in managing a company." Raza has not decided what he will do next but said that the convergence between telecommunications and computing technologies "intrigued" him.

An AMD spokesperson denied any rift between Raza and Saunders over the Dresden plant. 'Fab 30' has just produced its first copper K6 chips and is expected to produce 1GHz copper Athlon chips by the end of the year. The German plant is intended to boost AMD's production of high performance chips. 'Fab 25' in Austin is currently being converted to produce components built on a 0.18 micron process. The first of the smaller dies will be produced in the fourth quarter of this year.