Ryan Shrout, one of the public faces for Intel when it came to graphics marketing aimed at the enthusiast PC community, is leaving the company. Shrout revealed the news on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. He hasn't yet announced what his next move will be.
"Fall is a season for change! Yesterday was my last day at Intel," Shrout wrote. "I’m going to take a couple weeks with the family then I’m excited to talk about what’s next!"
Prior to working in Intel's client graphics division, Shrout served as chief performance strategist, a job he took up in 2018. In that role, he pitched "real-world" usage scenarios, rather than benchmarks, as Intel's strengths against a resurgent AMD. His title before leaving the company was senior director of client segment strategy, CCG in Intel's graphics division. Before joining Intel, Shrout ran the website PC Perspective as well as running his own analyst firm, Shrout Research, so he was well known in the enthusiast PC-building space prior to joining Intel.
Shrout has more recently been one of the primary faces for the company, particularly around Intel's Arc graphics cards. He often appeared in videos with Intel graphics fellow Tom Petersen. These were informative videos showcasing Ryan and Tom "TAP" Petersen. The duo answered many of consumers' questions following the launch of the company's first-generation Arc Alchemist graphics cards. Ryan was also an integral part of the process surrounding the Arc launch, often being the face of the company along with Petersen.
Late last year, following the launch of the Arc GPUs, Intel reorganized its graphics division and Raja Koduri moved back into the Chief Architect role. Not surprisingly, he wasn't long in that role before announcing he was leaving Intel to found a new AI gaming startup. There's been quite a bit of uncertainty regarding Intel's GPU aspirations since then, especially given the broader layoffs in the GPU business unit that have occurred since then, but Battlemage supposedly remains on track and is expected to launch some time in 2024.
Shrout's news comes on the heels of a high-level departure at AMD: Scott Herkelman, senior vice president and general manager of its graphics business. The timing doesn't mean that the two are related, though Intel, AMD, and Nvidia have a bit of a revolving door of talent.
It's unclear what, if anything, Shrout's departure means for Intel's graphics business, though it may need someone new to interface more directly with the enthusiast PC community. Hopefully Battlemage will make a better showing than Alchemist and compete better against the best graphics cards.
