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Intel Announces Key Leadership Appointments to Accelerate Innovation and Strengthen Execution

Daniel Nenni

Admin
Staff member
Sep 8, 2025 • 4:05 PM EDT

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Intel Corporation today announced a series of senior leadership appointments that support the company’s strategy to strengthen its core product business, build a trusted foundry, and foster a culture of engineering across the business.

Kevork Kechichian Appointed to Lead Data Center Group
Kevork Kechichian has joined Intel as executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center Group (DCG). In this role, he will lead Intel’s data center business across cloud and enterprise, including the Intel Xeon processor family.

Kechichian brings more than 30 years of industry experience, and joins Intel from Arm, where he most recently served as executive vice president of engineering. At Arm, he led technology development with ecosystem partners and managed the company's transformation from IP licensing to delivering full-stack solutions. His previous leadership roles include senior engineering positions at NXP Semiconductors and Qualcomm.

“Kevork brings a powerful combination of strategic vision, technical depth, and operational rigor that will help us seize growth opportunities across the data center market,” said Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel.

Jim Johnson Named to Lead Client Computing Group
Jim Johnson has been appointed senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group (CCG), after successfully serving in the role on an interim basis. He will lead Intel’s efforts to deliver innovative computing solutions and foster growth across the global PC and edge ecosystems.

A 40-year Intel veteran, Johnson has held various engineering and leadership roles across the company, including in the Technology and Manufacturing Group, the Networking and Communications Group, and general manager of several global businesses and manufacturing plants.

“Jim’s steady leadership and trusted relationships across the computing industry are driving continued progress in our client business as we prepare to launch a new generation of products,” Tan said.

Srini Iyengar to Lead Newly Formed Central Engineering Group
Intel is also establishing a new Central Engineering Group led by Srinivasan (Srini) Iyengar, a senior vice president and Fellow. In his expanded role, Iyengar will lead horizontal engineering functions and build a new custom silicon business to serve a broad range of external customers.

Iyengar joined Intel in June from Cadence Design Systems, where he led global silicon engineering. He brings deep technical expertise in custom silicon development and has worked closely with hyperscale data center customers to optimize solutions for key workloads.

“With Srini leading Central Engineering, we’re aligning innovation and execution more tightly in service to customers,” Tan said. “We are laser-focused on delivering world-class products and empowering our engineering teams to move faster and execute with excellence. Kevork, Jim, and Srini are exceptional leaders whose deep technical acumen and industry relationships will be instrumental as we continue building a new Intel.”

Kechichian, Johnson, and Iyengar will report directly to CEO Lip-Bu Tan.

Naga Chandrasekaran to Expand Foundry Leadership Role
Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president and chief technology and operations officer of Intel Foundry, will expand his role to include Foundry Services. This will create a more integrated structure spanning technology development, manufacturing and go-to-market to better serve customers. Intel consolidated technology development and manufacturing under Chandrasekaran’s leadership earlier this year.

Chandrasekaran joined Intel in 2024 from Micron, where he served as senior vice president for technology development. He brings decades of experience spanning the breadth of semiconductor manufacturing and R&D.

“Naga’s strong leadership, combined with a more integrated foundry operating model, will help us enhance the quality of execution, collaboration and customer service across our foundry business,” Tan said.

Chandrasekaran will continue reporting to Tan. Kevin O’Buckley continues as senior vice president and general manager of Foundry Services, reporting to Chandrasekaran.

Michelle Johnston Holthaus to Depart Intel
Additionally, Intel announced that Michelle Johnston Holthaus, chief executive of Intel Products, will depart after more than three decades with the company. Holthaus held numerous senior leadership roles, including interim co-CEO, executive vice president and general manager of CCG, and chief revenue officer. She will remain a strategic advisor over the coming months to ensure a seamless transition.

“Throughout her incredible career, Michelle has transformed major businesses, built high-performing teams and worked to delight our customers,” Tan said. “She has made a lasting impact on our company and inspired so many of us with her leadership. We are grateful for all Michelle has given Intel and wish her the best.”

About Intel
Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) is an industry leader, creating world-changing technology that enables global progress and enriches lives. Inspired by Moore’s Law, we continuously work to advance the design and manufacturing of semiconductors to help address our customers’ greatest challenges. By embedding intelligence in the cloud, network, edge and every kind of computing device, we unleash the potential of data to transform business and society for the better. To learn more about Intel’s innovations, go to newsroom.intel.com and intel.com.

© Intel Corporation. Intel, the Intel logo and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250908934998/en/

Cory Pforzheimer
Cory.pforzheimer@intel.com

Source: Intel Corporation

Released Sep 8, 2025 • 4:05 PM EDT
 
Not a shock at all:

Michelle Johnston Holthaus to Depart Intel
Additionally, Intel announced that Michelle Johnston Holthaus, chief executive of Intel Products, will depart after more than three decades with the company. Holthaus held numerous senior leadership roles, including interim co-CEO, executive vice president and general manager of CCG, and chief revenue officer. She will remain a strategic advisor over the coming months to ensure a seamless transition.
 
Not a shock either. This is part of corking closely with customers while not competing with customers. Unfortunately some of the big fabless companies have custom silicon business like Broadcom, Marvell, and MediaTek but there is room for all. It is also a foundry thing to do. TSMC has GUC and UMC had Faraday. All foundries also have ASIC partnership programs, TSMC has the largest one of course.

Srini Iyengar to Lead Newly Formed Central Engineering Group
Intel is also establishing a new Central Engineering Group led by Srinivasan (Srini) Iyengar, a senior vice president and Fellow. In his expanded role, Iyengar will lead horizontal engineering functions and build a new custom silicon business to serve a broad range of external customers.
 
Michelle Johnston Holthaus to Depart Intel
Additionally, Intel announced that Michelle Johnston Holthaus, chief executive of Intel Products, will depart after more than three decades with the company. Holthaus held numerous senior leadership roles, including interim co-CEO, executive vice president and general manager of CCG, and chief revenue officer. She will remain a strategic advisor over the coming months to ensure a seamless transition.

“Throughout her incredible career, Michelle has transformed major businesses, built high-performing teams and worked to delight our customers,” Tan said. “She has made a lasting impact on our company and inspired so many of us with her leadership. We are grateful for all Michelle has given Intel and wish her the best.”
If I were Holthaus, I'd be annoyed at this announcement. I'm so wonderful, but I'm being fired. :poop:
 
Michelle is very good IMO and dealt with a lot of BS over the past 5 years. I hope she is lining up a new position but the days of people wanting Intel leadership experience are over.

Layers are getting removed and Michelle is one of them. Foundry has gone from 3-4 leaders to 1....well done.

JJ has literally seen everything from all sides. hopefully he can point out where the problems are. He also leads the only group that makes any significant money for the company.

Tough decisions and a lot of conflict to come..... but LBT is fixing stuff. The new people will either succeed or it will be Raja Koduri and Jim Keller part 2.
 
Not a shock either. This is part of corking closely with customers while not competing with customers. Unfortunately some of the big fabless companies have custom silicon business like Broadcom, Marvell, and MediaTek but there is room for all. It is also a foundry thing to do. TSMC has GUC and UMC had Faraday. All foundries also have ASIC partnership programs, TSMC has the largest one of course.

Srini Iyengar to Lead Newly Formed Central Engineering Group
Intel is also establishing a new Central Engineering Group led by Srinivasan (Srini) Iyengar, a senior vice president and Fellow. In his expanded role, Iyengar will lead horizontal engineering functions and build a new custom silicon business to serve a broad range of external customers.

My feeling is that Intel is going back to the basics: product first, revenue first, and profits first.

As for Intel Foundry’s business with external customers, I believe Intel will take a much less aggressive approach until it regains financial and product strength.
 
My feeling is that Intel is going back to the basics: product first, revenue first, and profits first.

As for Intel Foundry’s business with external customers, I believe Intel will take a much less aggressive approach until it regains financial and product strength.

It is a good sign that Kevin O’Buckley is still heading sales for Intel Foundry. He is a sharp guy with a lot of experience. Intel did get rid of some foundry sales people and rightly so. A couple of them should not have been hired in the first place. Just because a sales person can sell themselves does not mean they can sell wafers.
 
If I were Holthaus, I'd be annoyed at this announcement. I'm so wonderful, but I'm being fired. :poop:

I agree but it is better than the alternative. It sounds like she got a decent parachute and as Mark said layers of management had to be removed. Her big fault was being overly optimistic I am told. A person with that amount of experience must be more grounded. Hopefully she lands at a company where she can shine.
 
I agree but it is better than the alternative. It sounds like she got a decent parachute and as Mark said layers of management had to be removed. Her big fault was being overly optimistic I am told. A person with that amount of experience must be more grounded. Hopefully she lands at a company where she can shine.

The CEO set the tone. Pat Gelsinger’s over optimism is what led Intel to its current position. In most major corporations, few executives are willing to challenge a CEO’s grand vision and ambitions.

Recently, I watched two semiconductor engineers discuss various aspects of job interviews at different companies. One of them mentioned a tricky but interesting question he was asked by TSMC: “What would you do if your manager’s decision was wrong?”
 
I agree but it is better than the alternative. It sounds like she got a decent parachute and as Mark said layers of management had to be removed. Her big fault was being overly optimistic I am told. A person with that amount of experience must be more grounded. Hopefully she lands at a company where she can shine.
You make her sound rather like Pat Gelsinger ...
 
What was the answer?
I guess it depends on the company culture. One possible approach is to disagree and commit (tell the manager what you think, but they are the boss, so you still help them to execute their decision), another is to escalate, especially if the consequences are significant. My instinct is to escalate openly, but it might also make sense to escalate quietly -- it undermines trust, but could allow everyone to save face, so depends on the culture what's considered better.

I'm also interested to know what TSMC considers the right answer.
 
I guess it depends on the company culture. One possible approach is to disagree and commit (tell the manager what you think, but they are the boss, so you still help them to execute their decision), another is to escalate, especially if the consequences are significant. My instinct is to escalate openly, but it might also make sense to escalate quietly -- it undermines trust, but could allow everyone to save face, so depends on the culture what's considered better.

I'm also interested to know what TSMC considers the right answer.
Well yes, I agree
For example, if you were to ask whether it would be possible to imitate the way TSMC works now, it would be quite difficult...
This is a bold move that Taiwan can only pull off because they are facing the risk of repeating the same mistakes that Japan made in the past.
If you ask me whether this type of work style is possible in an American company, which is a relatively socially mature company, I would say it's impossible.

It may be helpful, but TSMC's answer is their own answer, and I don't think that answer can be applied to others.
Each company has its own answer
 
Thoughts on Naga? General consensus seems to be that he’s a very sharp guy who contributed a lot to Micron’s current strength vs the Korean siblings (SK, Samsung).

It is a good sign that Kevin O’Buckley is still heading sales for Intel Foundry. He is a sharp guy with a lot of experience. Intel did get rid of some foundry sales people and rightly so. A couple of them should not have been hired in the first place. Just because a sales person can sell themselves does not mean they can sell wafers.
 
Michelle is very good IMO and dealt with a lot of BS over the past 5 years. I hope she is lining up a new position but the days of people wanting Intel leadership experience are over.

Layers are getting removed and Michelle is one of them. Foundry has gone from 3-4 leaders to 1....well done.

JJ has literally seen everything from all sides. hopefully he can point out where the problems are. He also leads the only group that makes any significant money for the company.

Tough decisions and a lot of conflict to come..... but LBT is fixing stuff. The new people will either succeed or it will be Raja Koduri and Jim Keller part 2.
Well, to be honest, it's hard to judge Raja...
I don't think there were any issues with how Jim Keller was treated while he was at Intel.
It would be easier to understand if you think about his position at Intel.
Although he did not directly lead the project, he may have provided input and advice on various projects in his role as vice president.
Jim Keller's main technical role at Intel was to oversee the development of chiplet and interconnect technology…

Well, Of all the vice presidents Jim Keller has served as, Intel was the largest team he led, so considering that he started Tenstorrent after leaving Intel, isn't it a good thing that he got experience in managing a large group of people and how to lead a team?
 
how is she good? The horrible handling of Raptor lake which ultimately hurt Intel's brand, erosion of customer trust, Arrow lake being unattractive, and if customer relationship is what she's good at. Sorry, that isn't very telling, because she didn't stop AMD from taking market share at all.
Raptor lake sell more today than it did before the issues.

Hypothetically, imagine managing a roadmap where your boss repeatedly changes the product plans and fab process used against your input. This was done in order to meet his issues with foundry. I think she did very well given the BS she had to put up with. Just my opinion.

I think LBT has a very different vision for Products than historical Intel so it is good she left.

Side note: One big cultural change he is doing. Product and Foundry both had a dangerous blinds spot. Every day their position was "We have special knowledge that others do not have, we need to protect those at all costs". this is arrogance and Its not really true. This impacted how they dealt with all customers. That is changing.
 
Raptor lake sell more today than it did before the issues.
It can be due to the fact they have to replace plenty of faulty SKUs not to mention combined with increased demand. It was a design screw up for the most part and people were crying Intel 7 was faulty process.

Also they don't always correctly utilize their tech correctly they would use their tech to unnecessary create product segmentation.
 
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