After seven quarters of bleeding money, Advanced Micro Devices will have a new CEO.

Hector Ruiz has stepped down as chief executive of the troubled microprocessor company, with Dirk Meyer, president and chief operating officer, taking over the reigns.

The news was announced on a conference call to discuss AMD's (NASDAQ: AMD) second-quarter financials, which were not pretty. The company reported a loss of $1.189 billion, or $1.96 per share, on sales of $1.35 billion.

"The time is right," Ruiz said today during the company's earnings call. "Barcelona is shipping, the conversion to 45 nanometer is on track," he added, referring to the much-delayed launch of AMD's quad-core Opterons and the company's upcoming smaller chip designs.

He also said the company has made progress on its efforts to streamline its business operations in connection with foundry partners, a plan it calls "Asset Smart".

"This is why the time is right to turn the company over to a new leader, one who has earned the trust of AMD partners and customers worldwide," he said.

Ruiz, 62, joined AMD as president and chief operating officer in January 2000 and became AMD's chief executive officer on April 25, 2002. He has served on AMD's board of directors since 2000 and was appointed chairman of the board of directors in 2004.

Meyer, 46, joined AMD in 1995 as part of the design team for the original AMD Athlon processor. He worked his way up to president and COO in 2006. He holds more than 40 patents as an engineer.

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Ruiz will stay on as executive chairman and chairman of the board, working on the asset smart strategy and continuing the battle against Intel by "breaking our industry from the grip of an illegal monopoly," as he put it.