After ATI was acquired by AMD, Mr. Drebin served as CTO of AMD’s Graphics Product Group, but left in January of 2008. He’s Linked-In profile shows that he had some downtime before joining Apple, which The Inquirer pointed out could well have served as non-compete time.
His Linked-In profile shows that he’s currently a “Senior Director” at Apple, though his repsonsbilities are not listed. Apple does not make its own GPU (graphics processing unit), relying instead on video cards made by ATI (AMD) and Nvidia.
It’s doubtful that Apple intends to enter this highly specalized market, but the company does now own PA Semi, a small semiconductor firm, and Apple has long been the subject of speuclation about how this company’s product line might eventually mke its way into iPods, iPhones, or even Macs.
Mr. Papermaster move to Apple took him away from chips (IBM forced Mr. Papermaster to delay his employment with Apple until April 24th due to a non-compete agreement he had signed), and into the role of Vice President of Hardware Design.
Mr. Drebin’s position may or may not have anything to do with Mr. Papermaster’s hire, but his expertise in the graphics world could certainly benefit Apple and the work Mr. Papermaster is doing with Apple Devices.
As of this writing, Mr. Drebin is still listed as CTO of AMD’s Graphics Products Group, though Mr. Drebin’s Linked-In profile specifies he left the company in January od 2008.