New Intel Corp CEO Tan Lip-Bu. — Photo courtesy of Intel
PETALING JAYA: Malaysian-born Tan Lip-Bu (Americanised to Lip-Bu Tan) has been appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of troubled technology firm Intel Corp, effective March 18, with many industry observers aching to see what strategies the new boss has in place to turn around the chip giant.
He takes over from Pat Gelsinger, three months after the company veteran was forced out by Intel’s board because his costly and ambitious plan to improve the firm’s performance was seen as faltering and sapping investor confidence.
Notably, Tan’s appointment will also attract the attention of Donald Trump, with the US president eager for Intel to rebound in his push for more manufacturing in the country, threatening tariffs on imports that have roiled global markets for weeks.
Independent analyst Jack Gold told Reuters that Tan would be able to leverage his experience and especially his industry connections, while pursuing excellence within Intel.
“Hopefully the board will stay out of his way as he makes the necessary changes,” Gold said.
Tan moves in the same social circle as Lisa Su from Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, two artificial intelligence (AI) chip leaders who, according to Reuters, had been pitched to invest in Intel.
Born in Muar in 1959, Tan grew up in Singapore and was educated there, graduating from Nanyang University with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Physics. He later completed a Master of Science in nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.
Now a naturalised American, Tan began his doctoral studies in nuclear engineering at MIT, before moving to the University of San Francisco in California, where he graduated with a Master of Business Administration and founded venture capital firm Walden International in 1987.
A former Intel board member himself, he had been seen as a contender for the CEO’s post thanks to his deep experience in the chip industry and his status as a long-time technology investor in promising startups.
For example, he took a stake in Annapurna Labs, a startup later purchased by Amazon.com Inc for US$370mil that has become the heart of its inhouse chip division.
He also invested in Nuvia, which Qualcomm bought for US$1.4bil in 2021, making it a central part of its push to compete with Intel in the laptop and PC chip markets.
Tan remains actively involved with startups that could either become competitors or acquisition targets for Intel, exemplified by the fact that earlier this week he invested in AI photonic startup Celestial AI, which is backed by Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices.
In a letter to Intel employees on Wednesday, Tan said: “Together, we will work hard to restore Intel’s position as a world-class products company, establish ourselves as a world-class foundry and delight our customers like never before.”
Intel shares surged 12% in extended trading on Wednesday, and analysts welcomed the move which they said was likely to bring some stability to the chipmaker.
The company’s stock had declined by 60% in 2024.
From 2009 to 2021, Tan was CEO of Cadence Design Systems, a chip design software firm whose fortunes he revived by focusing Cadence around supplying the software for sophisticated designs and partnering closely with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), which from its founding days swore it would focus only on manufacturing.
During Tan’s time at Cadence, the firm’s stock appreciated 3,200% and it landed Apple as one of its largest customers, as the iPhone maker shifted away from suppliers such as Intel and toward its own chips.
Cadence’s tools also became central to chip industry firms such as Broadcom, which helps Google, Amazon and others design their own AI chips and have them made by TSMC.
“He did a really good job of pointing (Cadence) in the right direction. Cadence really aligned itself with TSMC – they saw them as a leader and the go-to shop,” Karl Freund, an analyst with Cambrian AI Research, told Reuters.
Intel is undergoing a historic transition as it attempts to emerge from one of its bleakest periods.
While struggling to cash in on a boom in investment in advanced AI chips that has fired up the fortunes of market leader Nvidia and other chipmakers, the company is spending heavily to become a contract manufacturer of chips for other companies, leading some investors to worry about pressure on its cash flow.
