Rick Bergman departs as AMD continues to ring in the changes

AMD has announced that Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of the firm's products group, has left to "pursue another opportunity" as changes continue at the semiconductor firm.

Bergman joined AMD when it acquired graphics firm ATI in 2006, and was tipped for the role of chief executive when Dirk Meyer made a shock departure in January.

President and chief executive Rory Read, who joined from Lenovo in late August, will now serve as interim general manager.

AMD has also announced that Paul Struhsaker has joined as corporate vice president and general manager to spearhead the newly formed commercial business division.

Struhsaker will oversee products and roadmaps for AMD's server, high-performance computing and embedded products. He has over 27 years' experience in development, software and digital communications engineering, and was most recently senior vice president of engineering at Comcast.

Prior to this Struhsaker was vice president of silicon technologies at Motorola where he led the development of handset, modem/stack and application processor platforms.

Struhsaker also holds a master's degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Akron, and has been awarded over 25 patents.

"The commercial market is vitally important for AMD, and the addition of Paul to our team demonstrates our commitment to profitably grow our server business," said Read in a statement.

"Paul brings an extensive business management background and customer perspective on AMD's commercial business opportunities. I look forward to working with Paul to help drive the growth plans for this exciting part of our business."