AMD Executive Steps Down

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel Corp.’s biggest rival in the market for personal-computer processors, said Larry Hollatz, head of its PC-chip group, has resigned to pursue other interests. Hollatz had been vice president of the Computation-Products Group, which builds the high-powered Athlon processors now gaining ground against Intel’s Pentiums. President Hector Ruiz will take over his duties, the chip maker said. Advanced Micro’s sales have climbed as Intel had trouble shipping enough high-end chips to meet demand during the first half of the year. Advanced Micro also stepped up the technical competition when it beat Intel to the release of an 850-megahertz device in February and won at the 1-gigahertz mark a month later. Since Intel recalled its 1.13-gigahertz Pentium III chips Monday, Advanced Micro has the only processor on the market that runs faster than 1 gigahertz. The top Athlons run at 1.1 gigahertz. Shares of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Advanced Micro rose 25 cents to $35 on the NYSE; they’ve more than doubled this year.