Updated: NVIDIA Rocked by Mobile Chief’s Departure

Updated at 2:25 pm

The man who presided over NVIDIA’s successful foray into the mobile chips business, the company confirmed Friday.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Mike Rayfield, general manager of NVIDIA’s mobile business unit has left NVIDIA after reportedly receiving an offer from another company (though details have not yet been disclosed).

“It’s a big loss for them,” said Longbow analyst JoAnne Feeney to the Journal.

Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst of Moor Insights and Strategy noted to the Journal that Mr. Rayfield “battled larger teams at rival companies” and did so quite well.

Mr. Rayfield departs NVIDIA just as the company basks in its two greatest victories for its mobile division: powering the best-selling critically acclaimed Nexus 7 and Microsoft Surface RT tablet.

Update: Bright Side of News is reporting that Mr. Rayfield has landed at Micron, where, according to BSN*’s sources, will head up the company’s low-power DRAM field.