Intel announced today that it would split its AXG graphics group to separately address the gaming and data center markets by placing it under two other business units. Raja Koduri, currently the Executive Vice President of the AXG business unit, will return to his previous role as an Intel Chief Architect

Koduri will work on high-performance technical programmes with an eye on driving the integration of GPU, CPU, and AI architectures, a key initiative considering products like Falcon Shores and Intel’s Zettascale ambitions.Intel said.

“Discrete graphics and accelerated computing are critical growth engines for Intel. With our flagship products now in production, we are evolving our structure to accelerate and scale their impact and drive go-to-market strategies with a unified voice to customers. This includes our consumer graphics teams joining our client computing group, and our accelerated computing teams joining our datacenter and AI group."

Chipzilla said it remains fully committed to its existing roadmap of Arc consumer discrete GPUs and will launch the second-gen Battlemage and third-gen Celestial gaming GPUs as planned. Those GPUs will join the recently launched Alchemist series, which will continue to be supported.

Koduri assumed his current position as leader of AXG last year, but the new role sounds similar to his original position when he arrived at Intel in 2017 after a five-year stint at AMD.

He tweeted that he is currently recovering from an unplanned back surgery in India and will remain there for a month before he returns to work.

The new alignment places the consumer-focused portion of the Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics (AXG) business unit under Intel’s Client Compute Group (CCG). Intel’s CCG is responsible for developing consumer computing platforms around the company’s CPU products. Lisa Pearce, most known for her work leading the GPU teams’ software and driver divisions, will lead the AXG unit that slots in under CCG. Pearce will report to Michelle Johnston Holthaus, the current head of CCG.

There had been fears that Intel would axe the consumer GPU division, but that does not appear to be the case at the moment. Pat [kicking] Gelsinger has communicated a long-term desire to develop GPUs, recently saying, “When I left Intel 12 years ago, it was the only major 'not done' on my list of things that I wanted to finish. Well, I’m back, and we are now going to get it done.”