AnandTech's Anand Shimpi Retires

Update [2014-09-01]: Well this is interesting. Re/code is reporting this evening that Mr. Shimpi has been hired by Apple, with a company spokesperson confirming the news. His role at the company is thus far unclear, but we’ll keep you updated as this situation unfolds.

Original story below:

My post-dinner nap was interrupted this evening by the news that AnandTech founder and editor-in-chief Anand Shimpi is retiring from the tech publishing industry. The announcement was made with a post by Mr. Shimpi, who at 32 years old is leaving the popular site he founded in the hands of Ryan Smith, the site’s longtime senior GPU editor.

While I have every confidence in the adept team that Mr. Shimpi has built at AnandTech, today’s news is not only surprising, but a detriment to the tech publishing world. Since entering the industry at just 14 years old, Mr. Shimpi has become one of the most skilled, professional, and ethical journalists covering technology today. His character is beyond reproach, and consumers everywhere can count on his word and conclusions. If Anand said something was true — regardless of whether he was talking about hard drives, laptops, or smartphones — you could take it to the bank.

Although he provides no clues about what’s next, Mr. Shimpi promises that his decision to retire is not driven by any health or business reasons. We can only surmise that after 17-plus years of diligent work, he is ready for a change.

To those already familiar with Mr. Shimpi and AnandTech, make sure to follow him on Twitter to keep up with any future developments. To those hearing his name for the first time today, I implore you to check out AnandTech‘s archives, where you’ll find thousands of articles which will help you quickly understand why today’s news is such a great loss to this industry.

We’re sad to see Mr. Shimpi leave the field he helped mold, but we wish him the best in what we’re sure will be many successful endeavors to come.