Chief Engineering behind Intels hardware division leaves company

The chief engineering (basically the number two in the company) officer of Intel, Venkata 'Murthy' Renduchintala, leaves the company on August 3rd. He was responsible for the 7nm chips division at Intel. That division is now being split up and will have managers who will report directly to CEO Bob Swan.

Developing the 7nm and 5nm process will from now on fall under the new Technology Development department, led by Mike Mayberry. Mayberry has been with Intel for 36 years (who will retire later this year). No specific reason for splitting up or leaving Renduchintala is given. However, with this step, the company says 'to improve focus and responsibility'.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 27, 2020 – Today, Intel CEO Bob Swan announced changes to the company’s technology organization and executive team to accelerate product leadership and improve focus and accountability in process technology execution. Effective immediately, the Technology, Systems Architecture and Client Group (TSCG) will be separated into the following teams, whose leaders will report directly to the CEO:

Technology Development, led by Dr. Ann Kelleher. An accomplished Intel leader, Kelleher has been head of Intel manufacturing, where she ensured continuous operations through the COVID-19 pandemic while increasing supply capacity to meet customer needs and accelerating the ramp of Intel’s 10nm process. She will now lead Intel technology development focusing on 7nm and 5nm processes. Dr. Mike Mayberry, who has been leading Technology Development, will consult and assist in the transition until his planned retirement at the end of the year. Mayberry has a 36-year track record of innovation at Intel, during which he has made key contributions in technology development and as the leader of Intel Labs.
Manufacturing and Operations, led by Keyvan Esfarjani. Esfarjani most recently led manufacturing for Intel’s Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group (NSG), in which role he set the vision and strategy for Intel’s memory manufacturing and led a rapid expansion of capacity. He will now lead global manufacturing operations and continue Kelleher’s work driving product ramp and the build-out of new fab capacity.
Design Engineering, led in the interim by Josh Walden while Intel conducts an accelerated global search to identify a permanent world-class leader. Walden is a proven leader in technology manufacturing and platform engineering. Most recently, he has been leading the Intel Product Assurance and Security Group (IPAS), which will continue to report to him.
Architecture, Software and Graphics will continue to be led by Raja Koduri. Koduri has responsibility for driving the development of Intel’s architecture and software strategy, and dedicated graphics product portfolio. Under his leadership, we will continue to invest in our software capability as a strategic asset and further build-out software engineering with cloud, platform, solutions and services expertise.
Supply Chain will continue to be led by Dr. Randhir Thakur. Thakur will report directly to the CEO as chief supply chain officer, recognizing the ever-growing importance of this role and our relationships with key players in the ecosystem. Thakur and his team are charged with ensuring supply chain is a competitive advantage for Intel.

As a result of these changes, Murthy Renduchintala will leave Intel on Aug. 3, 2020.

“I look forward to working directly with these talented and experienced technology leaders, each of whom is committed to driving Intel forward during this period of critical execution,” said Swan. “I also want to thank Murthy for his leadership in helping Intel transform our technology platform. We have the most diverse portfolio of leadership products in our history and, as a result of our six pillars of innovation and disaggregation strategy, much more flexibility in how we build, package and deliver those products for our customers.”

fantaskarsef
Senior Member

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Joined: 2014-07-21

#5812820 Posted on: 07/28/2020 08:54 AM

Well, smaller node delayed again, and we "wonder" why the chief engineering officer (responsible for 7nm dev) "leaves"? Not really a surprise, heads will roll.
After all, investors took a big dump on Intel over that although their earnings were okay-ish, but the money people's perspective is pretty bad for Intel.

sverek
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Joined: 2011-01-02

#5812822 Posted on: 07/28/2020 09:09 AM

Too much pressure over numbers I guess. AMD pressured Intel and it was not prepared to respond. Seems like rushed decisions ruined 7nm for Intel, rather than skill of personnel to deliver.

Loobyluggs
Senior Member

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Joined: 2008-09-07

#5812824 Posted on: 07/28/2020 09:15 AM

So, the one person who would understand how to fix the problem is ordered to leave???

intel executives are the co-pilot, Venkata Renduchintala is Denzil Washington. He might hit the jack daniels and coke before take off, but he is probably the only one who could get this plane on the ground...

Astyanax
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Posts: 13234
Joined: 2018-03-21

#5812825 Posted on: 07/28/2020 09:19 AM

just because he has the title of chief engineering officer, does not imply he has any idea how to make engineer anything.

Intels problem is it has people with no competence or skills that fit a position in places that actually require an understanding of the problems at play.

Take heed, Officers being let go at any level are not just sudden rash decisions, his performance up till now would have been a focused factor of why hes being fired.