AMD executives leave in wake of CEO departure

Dirk Meyer, president and CEO of AMD, is silhouetted during an Industry Insider session on the first day of the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 8, 2009.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two top executives are leaving Advanced Micro Devices following the board's unexpected removal of the chipmaker's CEO last month.

Chief Operating and Administrative Officer Bob Rivet and Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy Marty Seyer are both stepping down, but will remain briefly to help with the transition, AMD said in an email.

Their departure comes after Chief Executive Officer Dirk Meyer abruptly left in January amid concerns among board members about the company's lack of strategy in the mobile market.

AMD said Rivet and Seyer were leaving to pursue new opportunities.

In October, Meyer had told analysts that even though tablets like Apple's iPad were eating into demand for laptops, AMD would hold off on investing to develop microprocessors for that market until it grew more.

AMD focuses on making chips for personal computers and servers, and competes directly against much larger Intel.

Chief Financial Officer Thomas Seifert is standing in as AMD's CEO while the board looks for a replacement for Meyer.

Shares of AMD were down 1 percent at $8.16 in morning trading.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)