Intel names new leaders for data center, PC chip units

Intel has named new leaders for its two biggest product groups as part of an ongoing overhaul.

Kevork Kechichian, previously at Arm Holdings, will head Intel’s data center unit, while Jim Johnson, a 40-year company veteran, will lead its personal computer chip business.

The company is also establishing a central engineering group, to be led by senior vice president Srinivasan Iyengar, who joined in June.

All three will report to CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took the top job in March 2025.

These appointments come as Intel works to regain lost ground in the semiconductor industry, especially in the fast-growing market for AI-related products.

Michelle Johnston Holthaus, who had been overseeing both product groups, will leave her current role but remain as a strategic adviser during the transition.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Leadership shuffle reflects Intel’s urgent need to address AI market disruption

Intel’s data center business faces a dramatic market shift, with the company’s CPU market share projected to decline to 55% in 2025 while AMD rises to 36%2.
Meanwhile, the AI infrastructure market that Intel has largely missed is growing—from $20 billion in 2020 to a projected $300 billion by 20303.
This timing makes the leadership changes particularly critical, as Intel’s traditional data center dominance erodes just as AI infrastructure spending drives a $697 billion growth in the semiconductor market by 20254.
The company’s Gaudi AI chips are positioned as a 50% cheaper alternative to Nvidia’s offerings, but Intel’s AI chip revenue is only projected to surpass $1 billion in 2024—a fraction of Nvidia’s $18.4 billion quarterly data center revenue2.

External hire signals Intel’s recognition that internal expertise may be insufficient

Intel’s decision to bring in Arm executive Kevork Kechichian to lead data centers while promoting 40-year veteran Jim Johnson to lead the PC business suggests the company views its data center challenges as requiring outside perspective1.
This choice is notable given Intel’s deep internal bench of experienced executives like Michelle Johnston Holthaus, who spent over 30 years at the company and served as co-CEO after Pat Gelsinger’s departure1.
The move reflects how Intel’s historical strength in data center CPUs may not translate to success in the AI-accelerated data center market, where Nvidia controls approximately 80% of the AI accelerator market primarily due to its CUDA software ecosystem2.
By appointing an executive from Arm—a company with different architectural approaches and customer relationships—Intel appears to acknowledge that competing in AI infrastructure requires fundamentally different strategies than traditional server chip development.