Intel names Bob Swan as new boss in the wake of former CEO’s rule-breaking

Intel has made its interim chief executive Robert 'Bob' Swan its permanent boss, after the role's former occupant resigned last year.

Swan, who was previously Intel's chief financial officer, had also served as Ebay's finance boss for the nine years before joining Intel in 2016. His appointment marks a change for Intel, which has traditionally appointed chief executives who have made their way up through the company's engineering ranks.

Swan was interim chief executive for seven months, after ex-boss Bryan Krzanich resigned in June after an internal investigation found he had struck up a consensual relationship with an employee against company policy.

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The move comes despite previous public statements by Swan that he was not interested in a permanent role at the head of Intel. His task will now be to increase Intel's presence in a heavily saturated computer chip manufacturing market.

“Our ambitions have never been greater and we have a relatively small share of the largest addressable market in Intel’s history,” Swan said in a letter to staff.

“We must remain focused on playing offence and innovating for an increasingly data-centric world.”

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Intel's share price fell by two per cent in early trading after the change was announced.

The firm has had a mixed performance under Swan's interim guidance, beating revenue estimates in October but missing those same estimates when it reported its fourth quarter last week.

Intel said its vice president of finance Todd Underwood will become interim chief financial officer in Swan's wake until a more permanent solution is found.