Jim Keller (engineer)

Jim Keller
Occupation Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering at Tesla Motors[1]
Known for
  • AMD K7
  • AMD K8 (lead architect)
  • Apple A4, A5
  • x86-64 (coauthor)
  • HyperTransport (coauthor)

Jim Keller is a microprocessor engineer most well known for his work at AMD and Apple. He was the lead architect of AMD K8 microarchitecture[2][3][4] (including the original Athlon 64)[2][5][6] and was involved in designing the Athlon (K7)[4] and Apple A4/A5 processors.[2][7][8][9] He was also the coauthor of the specifications for the x86-64 instruction set[7][10] and HyperTransport interconnect.[2][10][11] From 2012 to 2015, he returned to AMD to work on the AMD K12[12] and Zen microarchitectures,[13][14] particularly on the low-power/embedded versions.[6][9]

Career

Jim Keller was working at DEC until 1998, where he was involved in designing the Alpha 21164 and 21264 processors.[2][3] In 1998 he moved to AMD, where he worked to launch the AMD Athlon (K7) processor and was the lead architect of the AMD K8 microarchitecture,[15] which also included designing the x86-64 instruction set and HyperTransport interconnect mainly used for multiprocessor communications.[2]

In 1999, he left AMD to work at SiByte to design MIPS-based processors for 1 Gbit/s network interfaces and other devices.[3][11][16] In November 2000, SiByte was acquired by Broadcom,[17] where he continued as chief architect[8] until 2004.[2]

In 2004 he moved to serve as the Vice President of Engineering at P.A. Semi,[2][10] a company specializing in low-power mobile processors.[3] P.A. Semi was acquired by Apple in 2008, and Keller followed,[5][15] becoming part of a team to design the Apple A4 and A5 system-on-a-chip mobile processors. These processors were used in several Apple products, including iPhone 4, 4S, iPad and iPad 2.

In August 2012, Jim Keller returned to AMD, where his primary task was to design a new generation microarchitecture[4][10][14] called Zen.[13] After years of being unable to compete with Intel in the high-end CPU market, the new generation of Zen processors is hoped to restore AMD's position in the high-end x86-64 processor market.[2][12] On 18 September 2015, Keller departed from AMD to pursue other opportunities, ending his three-year employment at AMD.[18]

In January 2016, Keller joined Tesla Motors as Vice President of Autopilot Hardware Engineering.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Seth Weintraub (28 January 2016). "The chip guru who built Apple’s Ax microprocessors joins Tesla to lead the Autopilot Hardware Engineering team". Electrek.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Anand Lal Shimpi (1 August 2012). "Apple A4/A5 Designer & K8 Lead Architect, Jim Keller, Returns to AMD". AnandTech.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Anton Shilov (1 August 2012). "Return of the King: AMD K7 and K8 Designer Jim Keller Back at AMD". X-bit Labs.
  4. 1 2 3 Graeme Burton (12 May 2014). "AMD to design new micro-architecture for 2015 launch under chip guru Jim Keller". computing.co.uk.
  5. 1 2 Robin Wauters (1 August 2012). "Apple's CPU Architect Jim Keller Jumps To AMD". The Next Web.
  6. 1 2 John Brownlee (1 August 2012). "AMD Hires Ax Series Architect Jim Keller Away From Apple To Report To Mark Papermaster". Cult of Mac.
  7. 1 2 Devindra Hardawar (1 August 2012). "Apple CPU lead Jim Keller heads back to AMD as chief architect". VentureBeat.
  8. 1 2 Adi Robertson (1 August 2012). "Former Apple chip designer Jim Keller joins AMD as chief architect and VP". The Verge (Vox Media).
  9. 1 2 Arik Hesseldahl (1 August 2012). "AMD Hires Apple's Head Chip Designer". AllThingsD.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Andy Patrizio (16 May 2014). "AMD roadmap: Is AMD finally ready to give Intel a real fight?". ITworld.
  11. 1 2 Charlie Demerjian (1 August 2012). "Apple's CPU architect Jim Keller moves back to AMD". SemiAccurate.
  12. 1 2 Sean Kalinich (27 June 2014). "AMD Brings K7/K8 Creator, Jim Keller, Back Into the Fold". decryptedtech.com.
  13. 1 2 Anton Shilov (11 September 2014). "AMD: ‘Bulldozer’ was not a game-changer, but next-gen ‘Zen’ will be". kitguru.net.
  14. 1 2 Hassan Mujtaba (5 May 2014). "AMD Confirms Development of High-Performance x86 Core With Completely New Architecture". WCCFtech.
  15. 1 2 Seth Weintraub (1 August 2012). "Apple CPU guru Jim Keller, who came with PA Semi deal, departs back to AMD to lead group under Mark Papermaster". 9to5Mac.
  16. ↑ Jose Vilches (1 August 2012). "Apple chip designer Jim Keller heads back to AMD". TechSpot.
  17. ↑ Molly Williams (7 November 2000). "Broadcom Agrees to Acquire SiByte for $2 Billion in Stock". Wall Street Journal.
  18. ↑ Mann, Parm. "Legendary CPU architect Jim Keller leaves AMD". Retrieved 18 September 2015.


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