Intel breaks up production group into three separate segments

Intel is going to split its production group into three separate segments, reports OregonLive. Also, Sohail Ahmed, who has led the production organization since 2016, will retire next month. The changes come while Intel is in a production crisis. The company is years behind schedule with its 10 nanometer chips.

The chips, which were initially supposed to be on the market in 2015, will only come into mass production at the end of next year, according to the company. The problems reflect the challenge of reducing the size of functions on chips, as those functions end up on an atomic level.

So now the company has decided to split up its production group. One of the new departments to emerge from this is for the development of technology, which is led by Mike Mayberry. Mayberry is the CTO of Intel and the head of Intel Labs. The management of Intel Labs is temporarily taken over by Rich Uhlig.

A second department is production and operations, which is managed by Ann Kelleher. Kelleher previously led the production group together with Ahmed. Finally, there is the supply chain, which will be led by Randhir Thakur. All departments are supervised by Venkata “Murthy” Renduchintala, who went from Qualcomm to Intel in 2015. He is now the president of several departments of the company, including production. He is also the Chief Engineering Officer.

Retirement

Sohail Ahmed will therefore continue to retire. He is senior vice president and general manager of the production group. He joined Intel in 1984 and works in Hillsboro, where he and Kelleher have led the production group since 2016. “Sohail has been a great partner and an excellent role model of Intel’s values,” said Renduchintala in a letter to employees, which OregonLive has received.

Ahmed himself, now 60 years old, wrote in a letter to his colleagues that it was not an easy decision, “but there is never a perfect time to make a change”. “It’s been a great, exciting and valuable career for me, even more than I could ever have imagined. I’ve had so much fun and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything else!”

Intel has been without a CEO since June. Brian Krzanich then suddenly gave up his position, after the company discovered that he had a relationship with an employee in the past. This goes against the policy of the company. CFO Bob Swan has temporarily taken on the role of CEO.