So something pretty big just happened. I have just learned from multiple sources that Ari Rauch, VP & GM of Intel Visual and Parallel Compute Group has been asked to 'look for other opportunities'. Intel's graphics group is at the moment reporting to Raja Koduri. Ari Rauch has been the Vice President and General Manager of the Intel Visual and Parallel Compute Group since 2015 and was also responsible for the Intel Xe efforts (although this development is unlikely to impact that).

Graphics segment reporting directly to Raja Koduri for now

Ari Rauch has previously been at AMD where he was corporate vice president of software platforms before defecting to Intel in October 2015. He has spent over 4 years serving as the VP & GM of the graphics group at Intel - a segment that was recently pushed into the limelight with Xe. With Ari gone, the graphics segment is reporting directly to Raja Koduri for now and I am told that Lisa Pierce is probably going to be one of the favorites to take over going forward.

An internal memo was circulated in the company relaying to employees that Ari Rauch has been asked to "look for other opportunities". Intel's Xe efforts are very important to the company's future plans and a change in leadership couldn't have come at a more critical point in time. Fortunately, Raja and Lisa appear to have this under control.