(Reuters) – Intel Corp made interim Chief Executive Officer Robert Swan’s role permanent on Thursday, marking the first time the chipmaker has picked a leader who did not rise through the company ranks.
Swan, 58, who was previously Intel’s chief financial officer, served as eBay Inc’s CFO for nine years before a stint in private equity and joining Intel in 2016.
His career in corporate finance marks a sharp break from tradition at Intel, which has typically been led by engineers who spent decades at the company and time in both its microchip architecture and manufacturing businesses.
Swan will be tasked with getting the chipmaker’s struggling manufacturing operations back on track and fending off newer chip rivals that are eating into Intel’s dominance in personal computers and data centers.
“Our ambitions have never been greater and we have a relatively small share of the largest addressable market in Intel’s history,” Swan said in a letter to Intel employees. “We must remain focused on playing offense and innovating for an increasingly data-centric world.”
Given Swan’s short tenure and lack of experience in manufacturing, many analysts had said he was unlikely to be named permanent CEO. Intel’s shares were down 2 percent in morning trading.
Swan has also publicly said he was not interested in becoming the permanent CEO of the company. But sources familiar with the matter said Swan had privately said he would accept the role if offered.
“Important in the board’s decision was the outstanding job Bob did as interim CEO for the past seven months, as reflected in Intel’s outstanding results in 2018,” Chairman Andy Bryant said.
In recent decades the chip industry has split between chip design and manufacturing, with manufacturing firms like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co specializing in the factories that make chips while firms like Qualcomm Inc specialize in designing chips but outsource their manufacturing.
Intel is one of the few remaining companies trying to both design and manufacture chips. But it has faced fierce competition, losing its lead in making the world’s smallest chip features to TSMC and facing an increasing threat from rivals like Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia Corp that do not make their own chips.
Swan had been in temporary charge of the chipmaker since last June when Brian Krzanich left the top job after an investigation found he had a consensual relationship with an employee in breach of company policy. Swan will be the seventh CEO in Intel’s 50-year history.
Intel also said Todd Underwood, vice president of finance, would assume the role of interim chief financial officer as the company undertakes an internal and external search for a permanent CFO.
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