NVIDIA Loses Key Engineer to Intel

EastCoastHandle · 31 Mar 2019 at 18:13

For those who don’t follow industry people, this is a move you should care about. Tom Petersen has been an advocate of consumer, partner, and media interests at NVIDIA, and has been a primary conduit for concerns and questions about GPU features. Petersen was largely responsible for building APIs for overclocking, built or drove the building of software testing utilities (FCAT, FCAT VR), worked on GPU boost and frequency behavior, and has also been a critical point-of-contact for partners and media alike.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forums/graphics-cards.3/

Intel is getting serious about their GPU's, it seems.

Kaapstad · 31 Mar 2019 at 19:22

Will make zero difference to NVidia.

The guy may have worked on stuff but he is not responsible for company policy.

Skynet5 · 31 Mar 2019 at 19:52

Will make a difference for intel though. All positive.

If more move, might show there are some cracks in Nvidia morale too.

Oxytocin is important, maybe he never got any.

Nutella33 · 31 Mar 2019 at 21:45

Kaapstad said:
The guy may have worked on stuff but he is not responsible for company policy.

As the video mentions he did more than 'work on some stuff'. He directly reported to Jensen, so he's at least an influence on policy or direction.

Big swipe from Intel, maybe they are serious this time.

EastCoastHandle · 31 Mar 2019 at 22:08

Nutella33 said:
As the video mentions he did more than 'work on some stuff'. He directly reported to Jensen, so he's at least an influence on policy or direction.

Big swipe from Intel, maybe they are serious this time.

That was my thought as well.

Kaapstad · 1 Apr 2019 at 01:57

Nutella33 said:
As the video mentions he did more than 'work on some stuff'. He directly reported to Jensen, so he's at least an influence on policy or direction.

Big swipe from Intel, maybe they are serious this time.

Video iirc did not say he reported to Jensen, it assumed he could report to Jensen - see 2.43 seconds.

DarrenM343 · 1 Apr 2019 at 08:25

He's an ex-engineer working for along time in Marketing. "Tom has been Director of Technical Marketing with NVIDIA since 2005".
Intel have deep pockets, so they can offer larger salaries to hire some people. Some employees may fancy a change too. I wouldn't be too surprised if NV didn't even bother counter offering and said "bye then"

. Hiring employees from competitors is natural part of a business wanting to compete but don't be too surprised if people switch back later to the employer they left.
Intel have to get serious about GPU's. I believe Jenson himself said we may (or will) not need CPU's in the future.
It'll be interesting what they come up with but does anyone really think they're going to offer better GPU's or competitive GPU's at a lower price point? Look at their CPU's. Longer term I doubt they'll improve the situation for gamers, even if they do initially offer competitive pricing to try to get market share, but if Intel were to get on top of Nvidia when it comes to performance, we can be reasonably sure the price will too. I really don't think Intel are out to help consumers when it comes to competitive pricing.
Intel would do better trying to track down employees from the same gene pool as Jenson and Lisa

.
Problem Intel have at the moment is that they may not even offer the best CPU's soon, a product that until AMD came back at them they were seemingly holding back the development of while keeping prices high. Their new CEO is an interesting choice too, being their ex-CFO.

Nasher · 1 Apr 2019 at 09:35

Kaapstad said:
Will make zero difference to NVidia.

The guy may have worked on stuff but he is not responsible for company policy.

Actually key techs leaving can make a huge difference to a company. Some people are just more inventive and resourceful than others, you can't replace that. Especially ones who have been working for the company for so long.

You also find that other people jump ship with them, because they are good for their career or just like working with them.

DarrenM343 · 1 Apr 2019 at 10:41

Nasher said:
Actually key techs leaving can make a huge difference to a company. Some people are just more inventive and resourceful than others, you can't replace that. Especially ones who have been working for the company for so long.

You also find that other people jump ship with them, because they are good for their career or just like working with them.

But he's a marketing guy these days. Can't imagine him taking others with them and I reckon Nvidia is probably a better place to work than Intel (a big reason people stay with a company).
Key reason people move to other companies is for more money, the same reason in this case they probably moved into marketing in 2005 away from engineering. There are positive and negative angles. A positive one for Nvidia is that they get the chance to get new people into key positions, younger, more enthusiastic and possibly more hungry. It could be positive for both companies.
Am excited to see what they come up with but I don't think the ex-AMD guy or Tom are key people. I predict Raj will soon be superseded once the first gen of GPU's is out. I don't think AMD were bothered about losing him either.

Nutella33 · 1 Apr 2019 at 12:44

Kaapstad said:
Video iirc did not say he reported to Jensen, it assumed he could report to Jensen - see 2.43 seconds.

'He is, to our knowledge, a direct report to Jensen' is the quote Kaap. They have worked with him and interviewed him so they have a solid idea on where he stands in the company.

harmattan · 1 Apr 2019 at 13:52

Wonder if he'll be working with Kyle...?

Gregster · 1 Apr 2019 at 13:56

I see this as a big loss to NVidia. The guy has done so much for them and I am sure will be missed massively. A good scalp for Intel.

Kaapstad · 1 Apr 2019 at 18:32

Nutella33 said:
'He is, to our knowledge, a direct report to Jensen' is the quote Kaap. They have worked with him and interviewed him so they have a solid idea on where he stands in the company.

And they to their knowledge could be wrong.

This is how rumours and misinformation gets started.

My real name is Robert Noyce, does that make me one of the founders of intel, of course not but Robert Noyce was one of the founders.

It is important to get the details right or it becomes silly season all round.

Randomface74 · 1 Apr 2019 at 18:33

Wonder if this is a sign that GSync is going the way of the Dodo.

EastCoastHandle · 1 Apr 2019 at 19:19

Nutella33 said:
'He is, to our knowledge, a direct report to Jensen' is the quote Kaap. They have worked with him and interviewed him so they have a solid idea on where he stands in the company.

I'm not sure why that's a topic of debate. The point is that Nvidia top brass got poached. It would be interesting to know if others will follow down the line. Furthermore, Intel appears to be really serious about releasing video cards. IMHO, it still not clear if PCIe Gaming Video Cards are on the menu. Otherwise, it's clear they are making a serious entry into that aspect of the PC market through the people they've poached.

Another aspect I have to consider is NDA's and other confidentially agreements one makes when moves like this happen. I wonder how Intel is doing it as a competitor. It would make a great read one day.

billysielu said:
Wonder if this is a sign that GSync is going the way of the Dodo.

It's already there IMO. I'm sure Intel will too be freesync'd, at a guess though.
It's hard to pass up "free".

Nutella33 · 3 Apr 2019 at 13:02

EastCoastHandle said:
I'm not sure why that's a topic of debate.

It's not really, just Kaap for whatever reason is trying to downplay it as if someone who sweeps the office and empty the bins as got a new contract somewhere.

What is a stand out to me is that this is a long time Nvidia head. This isn't Jim Keller who does a project and moves on or even a Raja. This guy has been with them for well over a decade.

EastCoastHandle said:
Another aspect I have to consider is NDA's and other confidentially agreements one makes when moves like this happen. I wonder how Intel is doing it as a competitor. It would make a great read one day.

A good point, especially since they work within a very narrow defined field subject to similar external restrictions. Lot of gentlemens agreements and threats of massive lawsuits (theres one going on at the moment between two tech companies over a personal transfer but it escapes my mind atm) you'd expect.

gpuerrilla · 3 Apr 2019 at 19:21

Probably regular churn in the space to be fair.

ltron · 3 Apr 2019 at 19:24

Gregster said:
I see this as a big loss to NVidia. The guy has done so much for them and I am sure will be missed massively. A good scalp for Intel.

I agree, he was certainly prominent as far as the enthusiast community goes.

EastCoastHandle · 3 Apr 2019 at 22:15

Will he be under Raja at Intel?
I wonder if they would meeting up at the "Golf Course" every now and then...before all this.

Nutella33 said:
What is a stand out to me is that this is a long time Nvidia head. This isn't Jim Keller who does a project and moves on or even a Raja. This guy has been with them for well over a decade.

Hmm, perhaps he does know something that may hit them sometime down the pipeline. Who knows really...Time will tell before the end of 2019 I suppose. But you are right, its hard to just up and leave after you've been that influential for so long within Nvidia. Money nor status was the motivating factor here IMO. So that begs the question...what was?