Intel announced on Monday that CEO Lip-Bu Tan will now lead the company’s artificial intelligence initiatives following the departure of its chief technology officer, Sachin Katti, who has moved to OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
Katti, who had been steering Intel’s AI division since the firm’s restructuring earlier this year, revealed on X (formerly Twitter) that he has joined OpenAI.
Intel confirmed the leadership change in a statement, saying, “We thank Sachin for his contributions and wish him all the best. Lip-Bu will lead the AI and Advanced Technologies Groups, working closely with the team.”
The company emphasized, “AI remains one of Intel’s highest strategic priorities, and we are focused on executing our technology and product roadmap across emerging AI workloads.”
OpenAI President Greg Brockman also commented on Katti’s new role, writing on X that Katti would be “designing and building our compute infrastructure, which will power our (artificial general intelligence) research and scale its applications to benefit everyone.”
OpenAI has not issued an official statement beyond Brockman’s post.
Leadership Shifts Amid Intel’s Ongoing Turnaround
The transition comes as Intel experiences significant executive turnover since Tan assumed leadership in March and began pushing for a company-wide recovery.
The chipmaker continues to face challenges in winning major clients for its contract manufacturing division, known as its foundry business.
While Intel’s central processors play a role in AI servers, they do so at a smaller scale compared to specialized AI chips. The company has also struggled to match the performance of data center AI chips designed by Nvidia and manufactured by Taiwan’s TSMC.
Katti had joined Intel about four years ago, initially serving in the networking group, which he later led under then-CEO Pat Gelsinger.
Tan elevated Katti to the dual roles of chief technology officer and chief AI officer in April as part of his broader effort to simplify Intel’s leadership hierarchy. Before his time at Intel, Katti spent nearly 15 years teaching at Stanford University.
Since taking the helm, Tan has promoted several internal leaders and expanded their responsibilities. Naga Chandrasekaran, who previously headed Intel’s manufacturing arm, now has greater oversight of external foundry partnerships.
Additionally, Tan has recruited new talent from outside the company, including former Arm executive Kevork Kechichian, who now leads Intel’s data center division.
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