Intel Opts For Management Shake-up

Intel has undertaken a shake-up of its top management team, just days after it posted record revenues for 2011.

As the giant chip maker moves into its new fiscal year, it will have new leaders of its PC and data center groups, a new COO, a new CIO and a new chief product officer, and President and CEO Paul Otellini will have several executives who at one time reported to Board Vice Chairman Andy Bryant report directly to him.

Management Shuffle

Bryant will become full-time executive chairman of Intel’s board of directors, a move that had been previously announced by the board and will happen during the annual stockholder’s meeting in May, according to the company.

To prepare for the move, Intel on 20 January named Brian Krzanich COO. Krzanich had been senior vice president running Intel’s manufacturing efforts worldwide. He will continue overseeing manufacturing, but also will now have responsibility over internal IT matters and human resources. Those last two jobs had been under Bryant’s purview. In addition, Dadi Perlmutter, who is in charge of the Intel Architecture Group, was named chief product officer.

Stacy Smith, Intel’s senior vice president and CFO, and Bill Holt, senior vice president and head of technology development, will now report to Otellini rather than Bryant, to whom they both previously reported. Holt and Krzanich will continue to co-manage the Technology and Manufacturing Group. Company officials said it is important to keep the development of semiconductors closely aligned with the manufacturing.

In addition, Vice President Kirk Skaugen, who had been running Intel’s data centre unit, will now head the company’s PC Client Group, the chip maker’s largest product unit. He takes over for Vice President Mooly Eden, who is returning to his native Israel, where he will be president and general manager of Intel Israel. Eden, who had spent nine years in the United States and was promoted to run the PC Client Group in 2009, will report to Perlmutter.

The data centre unit will now be run by Vice President and CIO Diane Bryant, who will be general manager of that group. She also will report to Perlmutter. Kim Stevenson, vice president of IT global operations and services, will become the new CIO and report to Krzanich.

Strong Financials

Intel officials said the new positions will become effective over the next 30 days.

Company executives on 19 January reported record numbers for 2011, announcing that Intel had $54 billion (£35bn) in revenue – a jump of 24 percent over 2010 and the first time the company had exceeded the $50 billion (£32bn) mark.

Intel passed the $40 billion (£26bn) mark for the first time in 2010. The company’s net income for the year increased 13 percent, to $12.9 billion (£8.3bn).

For the fourth quarter, the chip maker generated $13.9 billion (£8.9bn) in revenue, a 22 percent jump over the same quarter in 2010, and netted $3.4 billion (£2.2bn), a rise of 6 percent year-over-year.

The PC and data centre groups each saw revenue increases of 17 percent for the year.