Intel is accelerating a sweeping reorganization, with longtime executive Michelle Johnston Holthaus departing her role as chief executive of the company’s Products business. The move, part of a broader leadership refresh under CEO Lip‑Bu Tan, underscores Intel’s push to speed execution, sharpen customer focus, and remake its operating model around a tighter, more centralized engineering core.
Holthaus, a more than three‑decade Intel veteran, is expected to remain as a strategic adviser during the transition, according to the company. Her exit caps a year of notable appointments and realignments as Intel balances its dual identity: a top supplier of x86 chips and a resurgent manufacturing platform through Intel Foundry.
Veteran exit signals a deeper reorg
The Products unit has served as the umbrella for client PCs, data center CPUs, and adjacent silicon portfolios. Helming that portfolio placed Holthaus at the center of Intel’s turnaround narrative: rebuilding margins, stabilizing the PC roadmap, and repositioning the company in AI‑heavy data centers dominated by accelerators. Her advisory role suggests continuity on key customer accounts even as a new leadership bench takes shape.
The exit arrives alongside other high‑impact changes. Intel named Jim Johnson senior vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group, and tapped Kevork Kechichian, formerly of Arm, to lead its Data Center unit. Both appointments are aimed at tightening the connection between product strategy and the needs of hyperscalers, OEMs, and top enterprise buyers.
Central engineering and the custom silicon push
Intel is creating a Central Engineering group tasked with unifying design resources and building a scaled custom silicon business for external customers. The effort will be led by Srinivasan “Srini” Iyengar, who joined from Cadence Design Systems, bringing deep expertise in EDA, IP, and complex SoC delivery.
Unifying engineering under one leader is a signal that Intel wants to reduce handoffs, compress cycle times, and broaden its menu of chip options for cloud and device makers—including semi‑custom CPUs, AI accelerators, and domain‑specific silicon. It also pairs naturally with Intel Foundry’s mission to attract external design wins. Naga Chandrasekaran, chief technology and operations officer of Intel Foundry, is taking on an expanded remit to better align process technology, packaging, and customer programs with product needs.
Strategically, this is Intel betting on “silicon as a service.” The company can bundle advanced packaging (like Foveros), mature and leading‑edge nodes, third‑party IP blocks, and design services—an approach that mirrors what hyperscalers increasingly want: tailored chips delivered on predictable schedules. Industry analysts have long argued that tight integration between design and manufacturing is critical to claw back ground from TSMC and to win share in AI and networking silicon.
Data center and PC groups get new leaders
Kechichian’s arrival to run data center underscores Intel’s intent to defend CPU share while expanding attach to AI workflows through accelerators, Ethernet, CXL, and memory. With Nvidia commanding outsized spending in AI infrastructure and AMD gaining traction in server CPUs, Intel’s path runs through dependable roadmaps and platform‑level value. Mercury Research has tracked steady x86 server share shifts in recent years; leadership clarity is essential if Intel is to regain momentum with cloud providers and system builders.
On the client side, Johnson inherits a market primed for an AI‑PC refresh. IDC and Gartner have pointed to a multi‑year upgrade cycle as on‑device AI features proliferate. For Intel, that means balancing performance per watt, neural compute capabilities, and platform security while preserving the economics that keep OEMs loyal. Shortening time‑to‑market against Arm‑based challengers and rival x86 designs will be a key test for the reorg.
Funding backdrop and foundry ambitions
The leadership churn also sits against an unusual financing backdrop. Under the CHIPS and Science Act, the U.S. Department of Commerce structured support for domestic semiconductor projects with mechanisms that can include equity‑like warrants and performance guardrails. Intel has leaned into those incentives to accelerate fab projects and reestablish U.S. capacity at advanced nodes.
That context matters for Central Engineering: any credible custom silicon business depends on delivering at both leading and specialty nodes with advanced packaging, where TSMC and Samsung are formidable. TrendForce estimates TSMC controls roughly half of the global foundry market, a reminder that design wins will follow execution, not promises.
What to watch next
Three markers will show whether these moves are working. First, roadmap reliability: hitting milestones on next‑gen client and server platforms, plus AI accelerators, without slips. Second, external traction: visible custom silicon wins and expanded use of Intel’s packaging by top cloud and networking customers. Third, operating discipline: improved gross margins and R&D leverage as duplicated work comes under Central Engineering.
Intel has appointed seasoned operators—Iyengar in engineering, Kechichian in data center, Johnson in client—and expanded Chandrasekaran’s remit to stitch design, manufacturing, and customers together. For a company rebuilding its technical culture and market credibility, the theme is clear: fewer silos, faster decisions, and a product engine tuned to what buyers need now.
Holthaus’s departure closes a chapter for an executive closely associated with Intel’s customer relationships and revenue engines. The next chapter will hinge on whether the new structure can translate ambition into silicon that ships on time—and wins back share in the most competitive markets in tech.
