Ddos 
On September 8, Intel announced that Michelle Johnston Holthaus—who has served the company for more than 30 years and most recently held the position of Chief Executive of Products—will step down from her role, though she will remain for a short period as a strategic advisor.
Alongside this leadership change, Intel also revealed the creation of a new Central Engineering division, tasked with overseeing the company’s custom silicon business for external clients. This unit will be led by Srinivasan “Srini” Iyengar, who joined Intel in July from Cadence Design Systems, signaling Intel’s intent to play a more active role in chip design and customization, thereby complementing its foundry operations with a more integrated industry footprint.
In addition to Holthaus’s departure, Intel announced a series of new appointments: Kevork Kechichian, recruited from Arm, will assume leadership of the Data Center Group; Jim Johnson will become Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Client Computing Group; and Naga Chandrasekaran, currently Chief Technology and Operating Officer of Intel Foundry, will see his responsibilities expanded.
According to Intel, these changes are intended to forge a closer alignment between innovation and execution while accelerating the company’s transition toward a new organizational architecture.
This leadership reshuffle comes at a pivotal moment for Intel. Just recently, the U.S. government announced it would convert subsidies into an equity stake in Intel, with provisions ensuring the company maintains at least a 50% share in its foundry business. The move underscores Intel’s central role in America’s semiconductor strategy and highlights the pressure on the company to deliver both operational excellence and market success.
In July, Intel also recruited several senior leaders in sales and engineering, including Greg Ernst as Chief Revenue Officer, reinforcing its strategy to strengthen the management bench across all fronts.
For Intel, Holthaus’s departure represents a generational handover within its leadership ranks. CEO Pat Gelsinger is steering the company toward the vision of a “New Intel,” restructuring teams to bolster its dual engines of products and foundry services. With demand for AI, data centers, and custom chips growing at an unprecedented pace, Intel must accelerate its transformation if it hopes to maintain competitiveness against TSMC, Samsung, and emerging semiconductor design firms.
In the years ahead, Intel’s ability to deliver genuine product innovation, stabilize its foundry operations, and carve out a strong presence in AI-driven markets will be the true measure of this wave of executive reorganization.
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