AMD Names Raza President and COO

W.J. Sanders III, chairman and CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, announced today that Richard Previte was elected vice chairman of the board of directors, S. Atiq Raza was elected president and COO, and Robert Palmer was elected to the company's board of directors. The actions took place yesterday at a board meeting held in conjunction with the annual meeting in New York City.

Raza, 50, had been executive vice president, co-chief operating officer, and CTO. He will retain the title of CTO and continue as a member of the company's board. Raza joined AMD in January 1996 following AMD's acquisition of NexGen, Inc. At NexGen he was chairman, CEO and president.

Previte, 64, assumed the titles of president and COO in May 1990 and has been a member of the AMD board since then. Previte joined AMD in September 1969 and served as CFO for 20 years prior to being named president. In addition to being vice chairman of AMD, Rich will continue as chairman and acting CEO of Vantis, AMD's programmable logic subsidiary which is in the process of being acquired by Lattice.

Palmer, 58, was the chairman and chief executive officer of Digital Equipment Corp., and negotiated the 1998 merger of Digital with Compaq Computer Corp. He is a member of the board of directors of AlliedSignal Inc. and sits on the board of the Cooper Institute for Aerobic Research, a nonprofit preventative medicine research and education organization.