Zen is a success. But Zen is hardware, and AMD is (historically) a hardware company. Delivering software is hard, even if you're a software company. I wouldn't take it as given that a good (hardware) CEO, vision, and board support are sufficient to build the required software organisation, especially given their track record on this front to date. It is more likely that Modular is AMD's software savior. I won't speculate on how probable that is.

I'm in no position to judge the current CEO, but the Zen credit goes to

- Rory Read, under whom the program started

- Jim Keller who ran the program

- the engineers and managers who put the sweat in

- and, one must never forget, a rotating cast of executives and board members at Intel