Intel Names Chip Industry Veteran Lip-Bu Tan as its CEO

Intel named former board member and chip industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as CEO, indicating that the struggling but storied chipmaker was unlikely to separate its chip design and manufacturing operations.

The appointment, effective March 18, comes three months after Intel fired CEO and company veteran Pat Gelsinger, whose costly and ambitious plan to turn the company around was failing and eroding investor confidence.

Tan, a former Intel board member, was regarded as a potential CEO candidate due to his extensive experience in the semiconductor industry and long history as a technology investor in promising startups. He was approached by Intel's board in December to gauge his interest in taking the job, as previously reported.

Intel is undergoing a historic transition as it seeks to recover from one of its darkest periods.

While struggling to capitalize on a surge in investment in advanced AI chips that has boosted the fortunes of market leader Nvidia and other chipmakers, the company is investing heavily to become a contract manufacturer of chips for other companies, raising concerns among investors about cash flow pressures.

According to media reports over the last two months, chip rivals such as Broadcom are evaluating Intel's chip design and marketing business, while TSMC has separately considered controlling some or all of Intel's chip plants, potentially as part of an investor consortium or other structure.

After US President Donald Trump's administration asked TSMC to help turn around the troubled chipmaker, the company approached some of Intel's largest potential manufacturing customers about forming a joint venture to operate Intel's factories.

"This (Tan's appointment) is welcome news," said Jack E. Gold, analyst and president of J. Gold Associates, which covers the semiconductor industry.

Tan brings with him a "intrinsic understanding of the semiconductor industry, both from a product design aspect as well as the needs of enabling chip manufacturing - an area that Intel Foundry needs help in making their tools more user-friendly and accessible for potential customers," he said.

Gold and other analysts agreed that Tan's messaging appeared to indicate that he wanted to keep the company together, but they also noted that any transformation of the chipmaker would take years and require investors to be patient.

"Intel is a company I have long admired," Tan wrote in his letter on, expressing his confidence in the company's turnaround.

Tan, 65, is a Malaysian-born executive raised in Singapore with degrees in physics, nuclear engineering, and business administration.