AMD Radeon graphics head Raja Koduri quits - with reports suggesting he's off to Intel

Koduri said to have accepted a 'leading role' with rival chipmaker

Raja Koduri, the head and chief architect of AMD's Radeon Technologies Group (RTG), is leaving the company amid reports suggesting that he will defect to AMD's great rival Intel.

Koduri confirmed his departure from the firm in an email sent to the REG team, seen by Hexus. His decision comes after 40 days of absence, which Koduri said gave him "rare space for reflection."

"During this time I have come to the extremely difficult conclusion that it is time for me to leave RTG and AMD," he said.

"I have no question in my mind that RTG, and AMD, are marching firmly in the right direction as high-performance computing becomes ever-more-important in every aspect of our lives," he continued.

"I believe wholeheartedly in what we are doing with Vega, Navi and beyond, and I am incredibly proud of how far we have come and where we are going. The whole industry has stood up and taken notice of what we are doing. As I think about how computing will evolve, I feel more and more that I want to pursue my passion beyond hardware and explore driving broader solutions."

"As I mentioned, leaving AMD and RTG has been an extremely difficult decision for me. But I felt it is the right one for me personally at this point. Time will tell. I will be following with great interest the progress you will make over the next several years."

AMD's CEO Lisa Su will be taking over the Radeon division for the time being, according to reports.

While Koduri doesn't mention what he plans to do next, WCCFTech reports that the former RTG boss may have landed himself a "leading role" at Intel.

The report notes that, as he alludes to in his letter, the role unlikely will focus on hardware, with Koduri instead set to job Intel to "contribute on the software side."

While Koduri's move to Intel remains unconfirmed, his departure from AMD after two years comes just days after the two firms put their 20-year-long feud behind them to co-launch an Intel Core microprocessor with integrated Radeon graphics, no doubt in an attempt to take down market leader Nvidia.

The new 8th-gen chip, which Intel claims reduces the usual silicon footprint to less than half that of standard discrete components on a motherboard, will feature a "semi-custom" graphics processor from AMD.

This, the firms claim, will offer discrete graphics-level performance for playing games, editing photos or videos, and other tasks that can leverage modern GPU technologies.