Intel’s Manufacturing Division Gets Second Leadership Shakeup This Year

With Kevin O’Buckley leading Intel Foundry’s customer service and ecosystem operations and Naga Chandrasekaran set to run global manufacturing operations, this means two outsiders will oversee a crucial aspect of CEO Pat Gelsinger’s comeback plan.

Intel’s manufacturing division is getting its second leadership shakeup this year with an outsider set to take over worldwide operations from a retiring company veteran.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor giant announced on Thursday that it hired Micron Technology executive Naga Chandrasekaran (pictured above) to succeed 29-year Intel veteran Keyvan Esfarjani as the leader of the company’s worldwide manufacturing operations.

[Related: Intel’s 9 Biggest Moves Under Pat Gelsinger In His First 3 Years As CEO]

Chandrasekaran is set to join Intel’s executive leadership team on Aug. 12 as chief global operations officer, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Foundry Manufacturing and Supply Chain organization. He will report directly to CEO Pat Gelsinger.

In running Intel’s worldwide manufacturing operations, Chandrasekaran’s responsibilities will include fab sort manufacturing, assembly test manufacturing, strategic planning for Intel Foundry, corporate quality assurance and supply chain, according to the company.

The incoming executive spent more than 20 years at Micron, a major memory chip manufacturer based in Boise, Idaho. He most recently led Micron’s “global technology development and engineering efforts related to the scaling of current memory technologies, advanced packaging technology and emerging technology solutions,” according to Intel.

“Naga is a highly accomplished executive whose deep semiconductor manufacturing and technology development expertise will be a tremendous addition to our team,” Gelsinger said in a statement.

This marks the second time this year Intel has appointed a new leader within Intel Foundry, the new name the company gave its manufacturing division when Intel refashioned it as a contract chip-making business in February, calling it the “world’s first systems foundry.” The aim is to convince external companies to use Intel Foundry to manufacture their chip designs.

Less than three months after Intel Foundry’s official launch, the company said Stuart Pann was retiring as the leader of Intel Foundry Services—which covers customer service and ecosystem operations—and handing the reins to a new leader, Kevin O’Buckley, who previously worked at semiconductor company Marvell Technologies. Pann started a new job in June as COO of Groq, a chip designer that has repositioned itself as a cloud service for AI inferencing.

With O’Buckley leading Intel Foundry’s customer service and ecosystem operations and Chandrasekaran set to run manufacturing operations, this means two outsiders will oversee a crucial aspect of Gelsinger’s comeback plan, which calls for the company to build a contract chip-making business that eclipses Samsung as the world’s second largest foundry by 2030.

The two leaders will work alongside Intel Foundry CFO Lorenzo Florez, another outside who joined the company in April, and 28-year company veteran Ann Kelleher, who is executive vice president and general manager of Foundry Technology Development.

“As we continue to build a globally resilient semiconductor supply chain and create the world’s first systems foundry for the AI era, Naga’s leadership will help us to accelerate our progress and capitalize on the significant long-term growth opportunities ahead,” Gelsinger said.

Intel said Esfarjani, who has led Intel’s worldwide manufacturing operations since 2020, decided to retire but will remain at the company for the rest of the year to “ensure a seamless transition.” The chipmaker credited his “distinguished career” for setting a “strong foundation for Intel Foundry” and said, “his leadership in global supply chain resilience and manufacturing excellence has helped to position Intel’s business for long-term success.”