Intel names new CEO to lead the struggling chipmaker’s turnaround effort

By Clare Duffy, CNN

New York (CNN) — Intel has named a new chief executive, as the chipmaking giant attempts to recover from several bruising years that saw the one-time industry leader fall behind most of its rivals.

The company announced Wednesday that it has named longtime tech investor and semiconductor industry executive Lip-Bu Tan as chief executive, after former CEO Pat Gelsinger resigned in December.

Intel’s stock jumped nearly 13% in after-hours trading following the announcement. As of Wednesday’s closing bell, the company’s shares had fallen more than 54%, signaling investors’ deep concern about the company’s future.

Tan spent more than a decade as CEO of technology design firm Cadence Design Systems, where he led a “reinvention of the company,” according to Intel. He is also a founding managing partner of Walden Catalyst Ventures, which invests in semiconductor, AI, cloud and other advanced technologies.

“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 chair Frank Yeary said in a statement. Yeary will revert to being the board’s independent chair when Tan becomes CEO on March 18.

Tan will have a massive task at hand when he takes over Intel, which largely missed out on both the mobile computing and AI technology revolutions — ceding dominance to rivals such as Qualcomm and Nvidia. Rumors of a takeover have circulated in recent months as Intel’s future looked uncertain.

And he’ll be on the hook to prove he can be a more adept CEO than Gelsinger, the company veteran who was thought of as a sort of prodigal son who would fix the company when he took over the top job in 2021, but failed to do so.

In August, the company said it would lay off 15% of its staff as part of an effort to slash $10 billion in costs. And in November, Intel lost its spot in the Dow Jones Industrial Average to Nvidia, marking the end of a 25-year run that began when it was among the first two technology firms to be included in the blue-chip index.

The effort to revitalize Intel, long a pillar of the American tech industry, comes as President Donald Trump, like former President Joe Biden before him, has sought to encourage investment in US chipmaking. Advanced semiconductor manufacturing is seen as a matter important to national security because chips power countless tech products, from iPhones and AI systems to weapons and medical devices. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company announced earlier this month that it will invest at least $100 billion to grow its US operations.

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