Phil Hester has resigned from his post as chief technology officer and senior vice president at AMD.

Hester took over the role from Fred Weber in 2005 following 23 years at IBM where he was lead developer for the RS/6000, among other posts.

Prior to joining AMD, Hester was a co-founder and chief executive at server and storage company Newisys.

AMD has insisted that Hester is leaving on good terms and that the move is not tied to the recent lay-offs announced by the company.

The chip giant also said that Hester will not be replaced, and that his responsibilities will be spread across technology officers in each business unit.

AMD has had to make a number of unfortunate announcements in the past week. The company announced plans to cut approximately 10 per cent of its staff, and has lowered its first-quarter revenue guidance by more than $100m.