Struggling chipmaker Intel has hired former board member and semiconductor industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as the latest in a succession of CEOs to attempt to turn around a once-dominant company that helped define Silicon Valley, reports AP.
Tan, 65, will take over the daunting job next Tuesday, more than three months after Intel's previous CEO, Pat Gelsinger, abruptly retired amid a deepening downturn that triggered massive layoffs and raised questions about the chipmaker's ability to survive as an independent company.
This won't be Tan's first time running a semiconductor company, nor his first association with Intel. He spent more than a decade as CEO of Cadence Design Systems, which makes software that helps designs processors, and joined Intel's board of directors in 2022 before stepping down last August. Tan will rejoin Intel's board in addition to becoming CEO.
“Lip-Bu is an exceptional leader whose technology industry expertise, deep relationships across the product and foundry ecosystems, and proven track record of creating shareholder value is exactly what Intel needs in its next CEO,” Intel's interim Executive Chairman Frank Yeary said.
Intel has been led by interim co-CEOs, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, since Gelsinger walked away from a job that he undertook in February 2021.
Recently, Intel postponed the opening of two new chip factories in Ohio to ensure the projects are completed in a "financially responsible way." The initiative is set to utilize part of the $7.8 billion allocated to Intel through the CHIPS Incentives Program established during President Joe Biden's administration.
Nvida now boasts a market value of $2.8 trillion compared to Intel's $90 billion. Intel's stock price rose more than 10% in Wednesday's extended trading after Tan's hiring was announced, indicating investors believe he will revive the company's fortunes.
While Tan was Cadence Design's CEO from January 2009 to May 2021, the company's stock price increased by 44-fold.
Tan's past accomplishments resulted him being named winner of the Semiconductor Industry Association's 2022 Robert Noyce Award — an honor named after one of Intel's co-founders.
Bd-pratidin English/ Afia
