Intel announced back in November that the current VP Paul Otellini was planning to leave in May 2013, but it did not say anything about who would replace him. May has arrived and the board at Intel has appointed veteran Brian Krzanic the new VD, and he takes the chair on May 16th.
Paul Otellini has been working at Intel since 1974 and had the role of VP since 1996, and both Intel and the computer industry has gone through a lot of major changes since then. It was under Otellini’s leadership that Intel grew and become the dominant manufacturer of X86 processors it is today, and we have witnessed the transition from Pentium to Core, Core 2 and last Core i.
After nearly 40 years at the same company it is time for Otellini to pass the torch to Brian Krzanich, the company COO, Chief Operating Officer. Krzanic has been working at Intel since 1982, and has since then held sevaral key positions within the company. Between 1997 and 2001 he was in charge of Intel’s Fab 17 in Massachusetts, and has also been responsible for and monitored the building of several other fabs and plants. Since then his roles have included the implementation of the 0.13 µm node, and for mounting and product testing. Krzanich was named COO in January 2012.
“I am deeply honored by the opportunity to lead Intel,” said Krzanich. “We have amazing assets, tremendous talent, and an unmatched legacy of innovation and execution. I look forward to working with our leadership team and employees worldwide to continue our proud legacy, while moving even faster into ultra-mobility, to lead Intel into the next era.”
– Brian Krzanich
Krzanich i standing before a near chaotic processor market where the most dangerous competitor is no longer in the same field, AMD, but sooner the quickly growing ARM architecture implemented by many different chip makers. X86 as a platform will need to go through a several big changes, and the focus will be more on portable devices and energy efficiency, which unfortunately are areas where ARM have the advantage today.
Krzanich has an impressive list of merits, and it remains to be seen if his leadership is what Intel needs to remain dominant in x86 and perhaps even expand.
