Lip-Bu visiting the late 9th President of Israel, Shimon Peres, during the good old Cadence Design Systems days.
Erez TsurErez Tsur LinkedIn
Years ago, when Lip-Bu Tan took the CEO role at Cadence, I was there. The company was broken — morale low, trust shaken — and the stock sat around $2.42/share.
I still remember the day he left the CEO office: the stock closed near $205.24 — an 85× climb. I had plenty of those early shares to sell — which, at a certain point, I did — and I’m certainly grateful.
So when Lip-Bu took the helm at Intel this March, I didn’t hesitate.
I called my broker and bought shares at $22.44.
Why?
Because I’ve seen his playbook firsthand — humble, honest, and laser-focused on delighting the customer. He works side-by-side with engineers, not through layers of managers. And this time, he even invested $25 million of his own money — that tells you something.
It wasn’t easy at the start — turnarounds never are — and when things got rough, I doubled down. My broker wasn’t exactly thrilled, to say the least.
Today, Intel trades around $37 — roughly a 65% gain from when I first bought in at $22.44. It’s still challenging, but in parallel, global semiconductor sales increased by 21.7% year over year in August 2025, so optimistic.
I’m not an analyst or an expert — and this may not be another Cadence story — but I’ve learned enough to recognize a leader worth believing in when I see one.
* At the first Intel shareholders’ meeting under his leadership, Lip-Bu rejected a shareholder proposal that would have required a discussion about the company’s operations in Israel.
