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Intel shakes up manufacturing leadership as key Oregon executive sets retirement

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XYang2023

Well-known member
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Intel Vice President Ann Kelleher, an engineer charged with restoring the technological lead the company once held, plans to retire by year’s end, setting off a major transition in the company’s manufacturing arm.

A 29-year Intel veteran, Kelleher is one of Intel’s top Oregon executives. Intel said Thursday she will retire “sometime later this year” and gave her a new title as “strategic adviser” to Intel Foundry, the company’s manufacturing arm. Kelleher, 59, had been general manager of Intel’s technology development.

The announcement of her planned exit comes two days after new CEO Lip-Bu Tan formally started work. Naga Chandrasekaran, a former Micron executive Intel hired last year to run its factory operations, will take over Kelleher’s role in technology development and serve as Intel’s chief technology and operations officer for Intel Foundry.

Intel announced last fall that it had chosen a “long-term” successor to Kelleher — Navid Shahriari — but hadn’t indicated when she would be retiring. On Thursday, Intel named Shahriari executive vice president of a new organization that will coordinate various manufacturing activities across its factories.

This is a key moment for Intel, which is preparing to release a new class of microprocessor this year in hopes of closing its technological gap with rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Kelleher oversaw development of the new chip, which Intel calls 18A, in the company’s Hillsboro research factories.

Originally from Ireland, Kelleher joined Intel in 1996 and worked her way up through the company from process engineer to factory manager. She has led the company’s technology development since 2020.

“With a strong foundry leadership team in place and Intel 18A progressing well ahead of our first product launch and external customer tape-outs, this is a well-planned transition as we continue to advance our Foundry priorities in service to customers,” the company said in a written statement.

Intel’s headquarters are in Silicon Valley but the company’s largest operations are in Washington County, where the company has 20,000 employees. Those employees have long included some of Intel’s top executives, including Michelle Johnston Holthaus, who is CEO of Intel Products, the company’s chip design business.

Intel’s manufacturing research has long been centered in Hillsboro. Chandrasekaran is based in Arizona but Intel said he spends time at all the company’s factories.

www.oregonlive.com

Intel shakes up manufacturing leadership as key Oregon executive sets retirement

Ann Kelleher has been overseeing development of Intel's new 18A chip, designed to restore the company's technological edge.
www.oregonlive.com www.oregonlive.com
 
Very weird. I don't really see how Naga is more qualified than Ann to head TD, since he has 0 foundry experience and 0 logic process development experience. Additionally, both have a long manufacturing history and development experience. The one thing I can think that is in Naga's favor is that he has more experience in R&D. Ann seems too young to retire, so that gives the impression she is being pushed out. But that also disagrees with the fact that Intel is keeping her as an advisor for Intel foundry after she steps down later this year. Logically it also doesn't really make sense to "fire" the TD head that rebuilt and reformed Intel's TD organization and successfully executed an extremely aggressive process roadmap and overhauled TSMC for the highest PPA process powering commercially available products in 2025 (of course assuming there aren't any last minute surprises). I hate to potentially jinx somebody, but maybe Ann is having health issues that have forced her/made her want to retire?

Another possibility is that Intel wanted to consolidate all of foundry under one head (like they did with Intel products), rather than having three chiefs in the kitchen (Ann, Naga, and Kevin) like there has been up until now. Based on the statement of Naga becoming COO of Intel foundry, it does sound like he is being promoted to what is effectively the CEO of Intel foundry (once the subsidiary is finally set up). If consolidating the leadership structure is the intent, I could see how retiring Ann and then making her an advisor might be the better choice. Much of Ann's work was rebuilding LTD into the most innovative TD organization in the semiconductor industry and returning roadmap stability. That work is evidently done, and iff Ann did a good job doing it; the team she rebuilt can in all likelihood survive without her. Meanwhile, the manufacturing half of TMG's mission IMO has a lot they could learn from a cash poor and scrappy semiconductor manufacturer like Micron. In other words, Naga still has a lot he can give to Intel while also being able to adequately shepard TD. Whereas I think Ann has done just about all she could accomplish. Intel's TD and manufacturing operations were built and operated like race cars (high volume/low mix, rapid process innovation, fast ramp, fast deramp, focus on maximizing wafer output and yield from a limited manufacturing footprint, and making sure that CPU volume upside could be met/no socket was left unfilled). But now they need to operate like a Prius (low volume/high mix, specialty process development for old nodes and new nodes, minimizing any and all sources of variation, ramps happening in waves over time/phases, never ramp down operations, often running more process in the same fab, minimizing output disruptions during process changeovers, cost being more visible now that the final product is wafers instead of high margin CPUs, and operational discipline/cost reduction being more important given Intel's state and Intel foundry's status as a subsidiary of the wider intel corp). Could Ann make those changes? I feel like the answer is yes. But I think Naga's outside Intel experience and perspectives will better prepare him for that specific mission than an Intel lifer, no matter how skilled or accomplished.
 
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This isn't a complete surprise as Ann Kelleher announced her pending retirement in October of last year. The big change here is that Navid Shahriari, who was supposed to take over the TD org for Kelleher, has been put in charge of the post fab operations rather than taking over the TD org. This doesn't feel like Kelleher is being pushed out, though I agree it isn't clear exactly why she is stepping away.
 
Tan has been in job 2 days, looked at the foundry/TD org chart and said "are you kidding me??".... I like Ann but Intel needs to move forward quickly... Naga is perfect for this. I have tons of optimism for Intel suddenly.

Can't wait to see the external people Tan brings in.
 
Artificer60 said:
This isn't a complete surprise as Ann Kelleher announced her pending retirement in October of last year. The big change here is that Navid Shahriari, who was supposed to take over the TD org for Kelleher, has been put in charge of the post fab operations rather than taking over the TD org. This doesn't feel like Kelleher is being pushed out, though I agree it isn't clear exactly why she is stepping away.
Click to expand...

I met Ann last year. I really liked her. She was quite the opposite of Pat Gelsinger though so I wondered how long that would last. She actually rolled her eyes at some of the things Pat said. But yes, her health is definitely in question. That had to be a very stressful period of her life.

Intel is going big on their event next month. The briefings are coming and I'm sure there will be "leaks". :ROFLMAO: I really can't wait to hear about 18A customers and see Lip-Bu at the helm! Exciting times, absolutely!
 
MKWVentures said:
Tan has been in job 2 days, looked at the foundry/TD org chart and said "are you kidding me??".... I like Ann but Intel needs to move forward quickly... Naga is perfect for this. I have tons of optimism for Intel suddenly.

Can't wait to see the external people Tan brings in.
Click to expand...

Last year, Ann announced her intent to step down. However, the timing now seems too coincidental.

Pure speculation: TD will likely see some RIF (along with other parts of Intel), and it would be easier for an outsider (Naga) to implement this than for Ann.
 
kevin01 said:
Last year, Ann announced her intent to step down. However, the timing now seems too coincidental.

Pure speculation: TD will likely see some RIF (along with other parts of Intel), and it would be easier for an outsider (Naga) to implement this than for Ann.
Click to expand...

If I were Ann I would wait for the new CEO to start before formally retiring as well. Jumping ship without a Captain seems awkward? Naga is a good pick for sure and I would bet Lip-Bu knows him. That is the advantage of picking a CEO who has deep Intel experience.

I would expect another RIF for sure. The Intel reporting structure needs to be flattened, maybe another 5-10%? That is a guess, I have no idea what is in the works.
 
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