MarkPapermaster
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AMD's CEO and CTO on Radeon VII, ray tracing and beyond
After lagging behind with Vega desktop GPUs for a few years, AMD announced a major upgrade today: the Radeon VII, the first 7nm GPU for gamers. It's a powerful card capable of serious 4K performance. Its new architecture means it won't use up too much power, leaving plenty of room for overclockers to take it even further. But there's no real-time ray tracing, a technology that NVIDIA has been pushing since last year, when it unveiled its RTX desktop GPUs. So where does this leave AMD?
AMD teases next-gen Steamroller CPU, aims to Bulldoze the competition
AMD's Bulldozer CPUs remind us of Betamax (or MiniDisc), in that its superlative design hasn't been embraced thanks to one or two humbling limitations. However, Mark Papermaster, Sunnyvale's new CTO, took to the stage at Hot Chips to show how he's changing the situation with the third-generation Steamroller architecture. It's rowing back on the more experimental elements of the design, scrapping the single shared fetch-and-decode hardware in favor of dual-cores that should double the amount of instructions it can handle. It's hoping to make performance gains of 15 percent, clawing back some of Intel's lead, and is considering roping in the GPU to help with the heavy-hitting in future versions. The chips will be built at Globalfoundries 28-nanometer line and are hoped to be out at some point next year.
Apple Senior VP of Hardware Engineering Bob Mansfield to retire, be replaced by Dan Riccio
Apple has announced that its Senior VP of Hardware Engineering, Bob Mansfield, will retire and over the course of the next few months transfer his role to Dan Riccio. Mansfield is credited with leading the Mac engineering team since 2005 and took on a more visible role as an exec during the reshuffling in 2008. He's also mentioned as leading iPhone and iPod engineering since 2010 (when he took over the role from Mark Papermaster in a move curiously timed around those antenna troubles) and the iPad since it began. He'd been with Apple since 1999 when it acquired his previous employer, Raycer Graphics, and most recently popped up on our radar earlier this year while integrating another acquisition, flash memory maker Anobit. If you'd like to get familiar with his replacement, Dan Riccio is currently vice president of iPad hardware engineering. Check the press release after the break for a few more details on both individuals, there's no word on Mansfield's post-retirement plans.
Mark Papermaster returns to chip business courtesy of Cisco, Apple silently watches
We don't blame you if you fail to recognize this good looking fella. Just a quick recap: this is Mark Papermaster, the ex-IBM chip designer who stirred up a storm while transitioning to Apple, only to quietly depart the company 16 months later for reasons that we'll never truly know. Fear not though, folks, as word has it that the boy is back in town: Papermaster is now hanging out with Cisco's Silicon Switching Technology Group as its new vice president. Ironically, our man here will be responsible for making chips that power Cisco's switches, so it'll probably be more or less like his good old days back at IBM. Oh, and without Steve Jobs breathing over his shoulders.
Ex-Apple, IBM exec Mark Papermaster lands at Cisco
Recently departed Apple Senior VP Mark Papermaster has landed a new gig, signing on with Cisco as vice president of the Silicon Switching Technology Group. Papermaster's resume includes time working on chip design for IBM as well as his brief tenure running the hardware engineering group at Apple. The Cisco job certainly won't have the same kind of profile as the Apple position but it is certainly important. Papermaster will lead the development of chips for Cisco switching equipment. Cisco hardware runs a lot of the infrastructure that makes up the internet as well as corporate networks. Papermaster's relationship with Apple was marred by controversy before he even started working there. IBM sued Apple in an attempt to prevent Papermaster from joining the company. After only a year and a half in Cupertino, Papermaster left Apple in the wake of reception problems with the iPhone 4.
WSJ: Apple lost confidence in Papermaster months ago, Jobs accepted iPhone 4 antenna risks
We may never know the truth about the ousting of Mark Papermaster, Apple's VP in charge of the iPhone and a direct report to Steve Jobs. However, a report in the Wall Street Journal co-authored by Yukari Iwatani Kane -- widely considered to be Apple's favorite go-to source when it wants to control a story in the press -- is as close as we're likely ever going to get, from Apple's perspective anyway. Citing several anonymous sources familiar with Papermaster's downfall, the WSJ says the following: Mr. Papermaster had lost the confidence of Mr. Jobs months ago and hasn't been part of the decision-making process for some time, these people said. They added that Mr. Papermaster didn't appear to have the type of creative thinking expected at Apple and wasn't used to Apple's corporate culture, where even senior executives are expected to keep on top of the smallest details of their areas of responsibility and often have to handle many tasks directly, as opposed to delegating them. In other words, it wasn't just about the iPhone 4's antenna. In fact, the WSJ claims that Jobs knew about the risks of the antenna design as much as a year ago and it was his decision, not Papermaster's, to move forward with its development. Whatever the real story is, we're sure that Steve, visibly agitated at having to host an antennagate press conference, wasn't too pleased at having stood in front of the media promising an "end of July" ship date for the already delayed white iPhone 4 only to delay it again just a few days later. Straw, meet camel.
Mark Papermaster leaves Apple for reasons and destinations unknown (update)
We're not quite sure chip guru Mark Papermaster ever truly settled into his role as Apple's SVP of Devices Hardware Engineering in the year and four months since he finally walked through the door, but after the recent antenna troubles someone decided that he wasn't going to work there anymore. The New York Times reports that Papermaster has left and Bob Mansfeld (SVP of Mac Engineering) will assume his role. So far, there's been no official statement as to why the departure is occurring, whether he was ousted or left of his own volition (again, though he oversaw the new iPhone, his background is in processor design) but either way, the former SVP's picture and bio have already been removed from Apple's website. The man himself reportedly refused to comment when contacted by the Times, but as with all truths we're sure this one will come out eventually. Update: The ever-resourceful John Gruber says that Papermaster's departure may be more closely related to Apple's antenna troubles than we originally thought:Inside Apple, he's "the guy responsible for the antenna" - that's a quote from a source back on July 23. (Another quote from the same source: "Apparently the antenna guys used to have a big chip on their shoulder. No more.")
Mark Papermaster to serve as Apple's Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering
Earlier today, Apple announced that Mark Papermaster will become their Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering on April 24th. As such, he'll hold the reigns of the iPod and iPhone engineering departments. As you may remember, Papermaster was recently involved in a lawsuit when IBM stated that his accepting the position would be a violation of their own noncompetitive agreement, citing fears that he'd divulge IBM trade secrets once inside 1 Infinite Loop. The case was finally settled, and while Apple has declined to comment on the details, IBM told CNET:"IBM and Mr. Papermaster have now agreed on a resolution of the lawsuit under which Mr. Papermaster may not begin employment with Apple until April 24, 2009, six months after leaving IBM, and will remain subject thereafter to all of his contractual and other legal duties to IBM, including the obligation not to use or disclose IBM's confidential information."Apple started courting Papermaster in 2008, and he finally made the jump to "...the opportunity of a lifetime." Good luck, Mark![Via Daring Fireball]
Mark Papermaster begins work at Apple on April 24th, for real this time
Well, it looks like the long saga of Mark Papermaster's transition from IBM to Apple is now finally drawing to a close, with the two companies each issuing press releases today announcing that the pesky legal issues have been resolved and that Papermaster is cleared to begin work on April 24th. He'll be replacing Tony Fadell as head of Apple's iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams, and will boast the title of senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering, reporting directly to Steve Jobs. Dueling press releases are below.Read - Apple, "Mark Papermaster to Begin at Apple as Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering on April 24"Read - IBM, "IBM Resolves Lawsuit against Former Employee Mark D. Papermaster"[Via Mac Rumors]
Apple's new iPod chief ordered to stop working
Apple's poaching of Mark Papermaster from IBM to run the iPod division is getting more dramatic by the day -- the court on Friday ordered him to stop working at Apple while it sorts IBM's lawsuit against his hiring. For his part, Papermaster (seriously, what a great name) says he left IBM with good intentions and that he kept his old company fully aware of what was going on before he was hired -- a statement supported by the fact that IBM let him keep working for two weeks after he accepted the Apple gig instead of escorting him out of the building. We'll see how this plays out -- although Steve personally handcrafts every iPod out of a kitten, he does lean on his exec staff to keep the Benz washed and waxed. Read - Papermaster ordered to stop working Read - Papermaster says leaving was legit
WSJ: Apple's iPod boss stepping down, replacement stuck in legal limbo (Update: now official)
He might not be a household name, but Tony Fadell is the chief of Apple's iPod division (and credited with bringing the iPod idea to Apple) and part of the executive team responsible for the iPhone's development. At least he was. The Wall Street Journal, citing sources "familiar with the matter," reports that Fadell is jumping off the Infinite Loop for personal reasons but will remain at Apple's disposal in a consulting role. Here's the kicker: Mark Papermaster appears to be the named successor assuming IBM's lawyers don't put a stop to Apple's plans. None of this matters of course since it's common knowledge amongst investors that Steve Jobs does everything from inventing the iPhone to replacing printer cartridges around the Apple campus -- his staff is just there for tax purposes.Update: It's official. Papermaster is in as senior VP of Devices Hardware Engineering reporting to Jobs -- Fadell is out. That means he'll lead the iPod and iPhone hardware engineering teams. IBM be damned.Read -- WSJ rumorRead -- Tony Fadell Bio
IBM slaps Apple with a lawsuit for recruiting top chip designer -- like they were going to use him anyways
In broad, soap operatic strokes of the finest sort, IBM and Apple are at each other's throats over Apple's latest recruit: IBM's vice president of microprocessor technology development. Improbably named Mark Papermaster, the man in question is responsible for IBM's blade server division, and IBM is pretty sure there's a non-compete in there somewhere, especially with Apple's recent acquisition of PA Semi, a chip developer with PowerPC technology similar to IBM's -- IBM has filed lawsuits both against Apple in California (a state traditionally indifferent to non-competes) and against Papermaster in New York. We're not going to get into all the sordid details, but just because IBM and Apple are very, very angry at each other right now doesn't mean they're mad at you. Probably.
