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Intel’s first six months under CEO Lip-Bu Tan brought 13 major leadership moves: outside engineering hires, internal promotions, retirements, departures and reporting-line changes. Tan became CEO on March 18, 2025, and used the reorganization to concentrate authority around AI, CPUs, custom silicon, customer engineering and foundry execution. The list below is a historical first-six-month snapshot, not a complete record of Intel leadership changes through 2026.
Tan’s approach was substantial but not a wholesale replacement of Intel’s leadership. Several long-serving executives remained, while later departures and 2026 appointments changed the organization again.
What changed when Lip-Bu Tan became Intel CEO?
Intel announced Tan as chief executive on March 12, 2025, effective March 18, succeeding interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus. In his early messages, Tan emphasized an engineering- and customer-focused company, with particular attention to artificial intelligence, product execution, custom silicon and Intel Foundry.
The 13 moves highlighted by CRN from roughly March through September 2025 mix several different actions. They include external recruitment, internal promotions, retirements, executive exits, expanded responsibilities and a changed reporting structure. Calling all 13 “hires” would therefore be inaccurate.
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Intel’s appointment announcement and Tan’s strategy statement describe the intended direction; the individual status and chronology come from Intel announcements and CRN’s first-six-month review.
The 13 moves at a glance
| Executive | Move | Timing | Area | Type and later status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christy Pambianchi | Left as chief people officer for Caterpillar | Late April 2025 | People and culture | Departure; Victoria Holroyd-Fogg became interim chief people officer |
| Greg Lavender | Retired as chief technology officer | April 2025 announcement | Technology and research | Retirement; Sachin Katti received an expanded technology and AI remit |
| Sachin Katti | Became chief technology and AI officer | April 2025 | AI, networking and Intel Labs | Internal reassignment; later left Intel for OpenAI |
| Christoph Schell | Resigned as chief commercial officer | April–June 2025 | Sales and marketing | Departure to become Kuka CEO; Greg Ernst initially served as interim leader |
| Greg Ernst | Became chief revenue officer | June 18, 2025 | Sales | Internal promotion; continued reporting to Tan |
| Jean-Didier Allegrucci | Joined as vice president of AI SoC engineering | June 18, 2025 | AI silicon | External hire from Rain AI; previously 17 years at Apple |
| Shailendra Desai | Joined as vice president of AI fabric and networking | June 18, 2025 | AI interconnect and networking | External hire from Google; reported to Katti |
| Srinivasan Iyengar | Joined as senior vice president and Intel Fellow | June 18, 2025 | Customer engineering and custom silicon | External hire from Cadence; later led Central Engineering |
| Michelle Johnston Holthaus | Stepped down as Intel Products CEO | September 2025 announcement | Product organization | Departure after transition period; remained a strategic adviser temporarily |
| Jim Johnson | Became permanent Client Computing Group leader | September 2025 | PC processors and client products | Internal promotion after serving as interim leader |
| Kevork Kechichian | Joined as Data Center Group general manager | September 2025 | Data-center CPUs | External hire from Arm |
| Naga Chandrasekaran | Took responsibility for Intel Foundry Services | September 2025 | Foundry technology, manufacturing and services | Expanded remit; Kevin O’Buckley began reporting to him |
| Christopher George | Announced departure from Intel Government Technologies | Effective October 1, 2025 | U.S. government customers | Departure; successor was not publicly identified in the available reporting |
The 13 moves in chronological order
1. Christy Pambianchi leaves as chief people officer
Pambianchi left Intel in late April 2025 to become Caterpillar’s chief human resources officer. Intel named human-resources vice president Victoria Holroyd-Fogg interim chief people officer.
The change removed a senior executive responsible for workforce and culture while Intel was restructuring and reducing its workforce. Public reporting describes a move to another job, not a firing, so it should not be characterized as an involuntary dismissal.
2. Greg Lavender retires as chief technology officer
Tan announced Lavender’s retirement in April. Lavender had joined Intel in 2021 under former CEO Pat Gelsinger and had overseen software, Intel Labs and advanced-technology functions.
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His retirement narrowed the top technology job as Intel created a more explicit AI and product-road-map center under Katti. The announcement itself did not say Lavender was dismissed.
3. Sachin Katti receives the chief technology and AI officer role
Katti retained leadership of Intel’s networking business while taking responsibility for AI strategy, the AI product road map, Intel Labs and startup and developer relationships. AI-systems design, accelerator product management, systems architecture, cloud services, software-ecosystem enablement and developer-relations functions were consolidated or aligned under his organization.
This was one of Tan’s clearest attempts to put AI strategy under one executive. Katti later left Intel for a compute-infrastructure role at OpenAI, so his appointment belongs to the first phase of Tan’s plan rather than Intel’s current leadership structure.
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4. Christoph Schell resigns as chief commercial officer
Schell announced his departure in April 2025 and left by the end of June to become CEO of German automation company Kuka, according to Tan. Greg Ernst initially led Intel’s Sales and Marketing Group on an interim basis.
The exit tested whether Tan would retain Intel’s existing commercial leadership while pursuing a more engineering-led culture. It was a transition to another chief executive role, not evidence of a stated disciplinary action.
5. Greg Ernst becomes chief revenue officer
On June 18, Intel formally appointed longtime sales executive Greg Ernst chief revenue officer. He had already been running the sales organization after Schell’s departure and continued reporting to Tan.
Intel described Ernst as having more than 20 years at the company and a customer-focused background. His promotion supplied internal continuity while several engineering roles went to outside recruits.
6. Jean-Didier Allegrucci joins to lead AI SoC engineering
Allegrucci joined from Rain AI as vice president of AI system-on-chip engineering. Intel said he had previously spent 17 years at Apple and overseen more than 30 SoC designs there.
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7. Shailendra Desai joins to lead AI fabric and networking
Desai joined from Google as vice president of AI fabric and networking. He had founded Provino Technologies, which Google acquired in 2021, and was assigned to work on SoC architectures for Intel’s AI GPUs and future products. He reported to Katti.
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AI accelerators depend on high-bandwidth interconnects and networking as well as compute cores. Desai’s remit therefore addressed the fabric and systems layer that links accelerator chips in large AI installations.
8. Srinivasan Iyengar joins from Cadence
Intel hired Iyengar as senior vice president and Intel Fellow to lead a new customer-engineering center of excellence. At Cadence Design Systems, he had led global silicon engineering. Tan had previously been Cadence’s CEO, but the available announcements do not establish that personal ties were the reason for the appointment.
Iyengar connected Intel’s engineering organization to a renewed push for custom silicon for hyperscalers and other external customers. In September 2025, Intel expanded his assignment to lead a new Central Engineering Group and build a custom-silicon business.
9. Michelle Johnston Holthaus steps down as Intel Products CEO
Holthaus, an Intel veteran of more than three decades and a former interim co-CEO, stepped down from the Intel Products CEO role in the September reorganization. Intel changed the reporting structure so major product-group leaders reported directly to Tan. She remained a strategic adviser during a transition period.
Her departure removed one of Intel’s most experienced internal leaders and showed how far Tan was changing the product organization. The announcement was made in September 2025, not when Tan became CEO in March.
10. Jim Johnson becomes permanent Client Computing Group leader
Johnson became senior vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group after serving as interim leader. He is an approximately 40-year Intel veteran whose experience spans engineering, manufacturing, networking and general-management roles.
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11. Kevork Kechichian joins to lead the Data Center Group
Kechichian joined Intel as executive vice president and general manager of the Data Center Group after leading technology development at Arm. His earlier experience included NXP Semiconductors and Qualcomm, and he had worked with ecosystem partners on full-stack solutions.
Tan’s structure focused the Data Center Group on CPUs, while AI-accelerator work moved under Katti’s technology-and-AI organization. The appointment targeted Intel’s most contested product market, where it faces AMD, Arm-based cloud processors, custom silicon and dedicated AI accelerators.
12. Naga Chandrasekaran takes broader Foundry responsibility
Chandrasekaran, already Intel Foundry’s chief technology and operations officer, also took responsibility for Intel Foundry Services. Kevin O’Buckley, who had led Foundry Services, began reporting to Chandrasekaran instead of directly to Tan.
Intel said the change was designed to integrate technology development, manufacturing and go-to-market operations. It was an operating-model change rather than a conventional hire or exit. O’Buckley later left Intel in February 2026 for Qualcomm’s global operations and supply-chain organization.
13. Christopher George leaves Intel Government Technologies
George announced that he would leave Intel Government Technologies on October 1, 2025. He had led Intel’s business with U.S. federal-government customers.
The departure came as Intel’s government relationships and U.S. manufacturing strategy were increasingly important. Intel did not publicly identify a successor in the reporting used for this roundup, so no replacement should be inferred.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The strategic pattern behind the reorganization
AI authority was concentrated, then tested by turnover
Lavender’s retirement, Katti’s expanded remit, and the Allegrucci and Desai appointments created a single leadership center spanning AI strategy, accelerators, SoCs, networking, software enablement and Intel Labs. That arrangement was intended to improve accountability across the AI stack. Katti’s later move to OpenAI shows that an appointment can be strategically significant without becoming a permanent part of the organization.
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Core products received clearer owners
Kechichian was brought in for data-center CPUs, while Johnson received permanent responsibility for client computing. Holthaus’s departure and the decision to have product leaders report directly to Tan reduced an intermediate layer between the CEO and major businesses.
Custom silicon gained an engineering home
Iyengar’s customer-engineering center, followed by the Central Engineering Group, linked Intel’s design capabilities to external customers seeking tailored chips. This was distinct from Intel’s standard CPU business and from Foundry Services’ manufacturing and customer-facing operations.
Commercial and foundry responsibilities were reshaped
Ernst’s internal promotion followed Schell’s departure and preserved customer continuity in sales. Chandrasekaran’s expanded foundry remit combined process technology, manufacturing and services under one leader, while George’s exit changed the government-technology leadership bench.
Was this a complete leadership overhaul?
No. The first-six-month changes were substantial, but they did not replace Intel’s entire senior team. During the period covered by the original roundup, Intel retained important leaders including CFO David Zinsner, legal chief April Miller Boise and foundry leader Naga Chandrasekaran. The moves mixed continuity with targeted external recruitment.
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The reporting structure later changed again. Intel’s current executive leadership page, accessed for this article in August 2026, reflects newer or expanded roles, including leaders appointed after the original 13-item period.
What happened after the original 13?
The historical list should not be treated as Intel’s current organization chart.
- Sachin Katti later left Intel for OpenAI.
- Jeff Dahncke later left for Equinix, according to subsequent reporting.
- Kevin O’Buckley left Intel in February 2026 for Qualcomm’s global operations and supply-chain organization.
- Intel appointed Aparna Bawa executive vice president and chief legal and people officer on April 2, 2026.
- On May 4, 2026, Intel appointed Alex Katouzian to lead Client Computing and Physical AI and Pushkar Ranade as chief technology officer.
- On June 18, 2026, Intel appointed Seok-Hee Lee executive vice president of Intel Foundry.
These later developments matter because they separate Tan’s initial design from the leadership structure that existed in 2026. They also show that reorganization remained an ongoing process rather than a single March–September event.
How to judge whether Tan’s moves mattered
Leadership changes are best evaluated by what authority and execution they affect, not by headcount alone. For each move, consider:
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors- Strategic relevance: Does the role control AI, CPUs, foundry, custom silicon or key customer relationships?
- Reporting authority: Did the executive gain a direct line to Tan or move under another organization?
- Internal versus external talent: Does the appointment preserve Intel knowledge or bring a new network and operating experience?
- Continuity risk: Did Intel lose institutional knowledge in a critical business?
- Execution relevance: Does the person control a product roadmap, process technology, manufacturing operation or customer pipeline?
- Follow-through: Did the executive remain, receive a broader assignment or leave later?
Trade-offs in Tan’s model
- Outside hires can add specialized experience and customer networks, but they must integrate into Intel’s processes and culture.
- Internal promotions preserve institutional knowledge and relationships, but may produce less dramatic change.
- More direct reporting to Tan can improve accountability and speed while increasing the risk that too many decisions reach the CEO.
- A concentrated AI organization can align hardware, software and systems work, but repeated leadership changes can unsettle employees and customers.
- Integrated foundry leadership may connect technology, manufacturing and selling, while making commercial accountability harder to distinguish.
- High turnover can signal urgency and cultural change, but it also raises retention and execution questions.
Tan’s first six months therefore represent a leadership architecture aimed at engineering intensity and clearer product ownership—not proof that Intel’s business problems were solved. Operating or financial results must be assessed separately from the executive announcements.
The Bottom Line
Tan substantially changed Intel’s leadership architecture in his first six months, concentrating AI and engineering authority, clarifying CPU and client-product ownership, recruiting for custom silicon and reshaping Foundry reporting. But the 13 moves were not 13 hires, did not replace the entire leadership team and should be read as an early snapshot. Katti’s later departure, O’Buckley’s move to Qualcomm and several 2026 appointments materially changed the structure afterward.
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