Paul Otellini to retire in May
Intel Corporation said its president and CEO, Paul Otellini, will retire in May, after serving the company for nearly 40 years.
The board will conduct the process to choose Otellini’s successor and will consider internal and external candidates for the job, Intel said in a statement.
Otellini began his tenure as CEO in 2005, and he could have continued to serve as CEO until May 2016, when he would have reached the company’s mandatory retirement age.
Industry watchers suggest Otellini’s early retirement is due to his failure to equip Intel for a shift toward mobile devices and away from the personal computers it long dominated, Bloombergreports.
Under Otellini’s tenure, Intel has stumbled in the transition to mobile computing, managing to grab less than 1% of the market for chips for smartphones and tablets. Though the company extended its lead over Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) in PC chips, the industry is shrinking as people do more computing on iPads and Android phones.
In addition, the company has promoted three senior leaders to the position of EVP: Renee James, head of Intel’s software business; Brian Krzanich, COO and head of worldwide manufacturing; and Stacy Smith, CFO and director of corporate strategy.