Intel chief engineer to depart in tech unit shake-up
Intel said its chief engineering officer Murthy Renduchintala is stepping away from the business, as part of a move to split up a key technology unit into five teams.
The chipmaker said today that it is reorganising its technology, systems architecture and client group, with each section’s new leader to report directly to Intel boss Bob Swan.
Renduchintala had been widely seen as Swan’s number two, having joined Intel in 2016 from Qualcomm and later becoming president of the firm’s tech group.
His exit follows the announcement by Intel last week that the launch of its next-generation chip will be delayed by six months, laying waste to its share price.
It also said it would have to outsource some parts of its product process to third-party chipmakers, bolstering rivals Nvidia, AMC and TSMC.
Ann Kelleher, a 24-year Intel veteran, will now be leading development of Intel’s upcoming 7-nanometer (nm) and 5nm chip technology processes.
Renduchintala had been responsible for several major Intel projects including an effort to create modem chips for smartphones. Intel later sold the business to Apple for $1bn, a fraction of what it had invested in the effort.
Intel said Renduchintala will depart the business on 3 August, though it did not give a reason behind his resignation.
“I look forward to working directly with these talented and experienced technology leaders, each of whom is committed to driving Intel forward during this period of critical execution,” said Swan.
“I also want to thank Murthy for his leadership in helping Intel transform our technology platform. We have the most diverse portfolio of leadership products in our history and, as a result of our six pillars of innovation and disaggregation strategy, much more flexibility in how we build, package and deliver those products for our customers.”
Its next-generation 7nm chips are now scheduled to arrive in 2022. Intel’s current generation 10nm chips were also beset by years of delays, causing major bottlenecks to development and production in the laptop industry.