Days after officially taking over as Intel's top executive, CEO Brian Krzanich has reorganized the company's businesses to give himself more direct control. The company also formed a new unit to focus on "new devices" outside of smartphones and tablets.
The reorganization was first reported by Reuters and confirmed by Intel to other news outlets. The changes were disclosed but not outlined in detail in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Krzanich now has Intel's chipmaking division, the Architecture Group, reporting directly to him. The unit was formerly run by David Perlmutter, who will now lead a "management transition effort." Details of the changes were sent to Intel employees in an internal memo, which Reuters obtained from an unnamed company source. Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy confirmed the details to Reuters.
"As your CEO I am committed to making quick, informed decisions. I am committed to being bolder, moving faster and accepting that this means changes will be made knowing that we will listen, learn and then make adjustments in order to keep pace with a rapidly changing industry," Krzanich said in the email, according to the source. "Our business faces significant challenges, and we simply must continue to execute while finalizing our future strategy," he reportedly wrote.
Intel President Renée James will lead the company's manufacturing operations. However, the most interesting move is that Mike Bell, co-leader of the company's mobile chipset business, is taking over the "new devices," business. Bell is a veteran of Palm and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Vice President Hermann Eul will continue as head of the mobile and communications group, Mulloy told Bloomberg.
In selecting Krzanich and James, Intel's board was mainly convinced by a new strategy they developed to help take Intel chips into new categories of devices. "That is absolutely what won them the job," Intel Chairman Andy Bryant, who led the search, recently told the Wall Street Journal. "Brian and Renée delivered a strategy for Intel that is pretty dramatic."
The new strategy is designed help move Intel chips beyond computers and mobile devices and into new fields, including wearable technology. The strategy "went from the very low end of computing to the very top end of computing," Bryant said.
The focus on non-traditional devices could be a key focus of the unit that Bell will be leading. "The new devices organization is responsible for rapidly turning brilliant technical and business model innovations into products that shape and lead markets," Krzanich said in the memo to employees, according to Reuters.
Even though it is the world's largest silicon maker, in mobile, Intel is trying to catch up to companies that use designs from ARM Holdings, including Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM), Nvidia, Samsung Electronics, Broadcom and MediaTek. ZTE, Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Motorola Mobility, Lenovo and others have agreed to use Intel chips, but Intel still trails its peers in mobile design wins.
For more:
- see this SEC filing
- see this Reuters article
- see this AllThingsD article
- see this Bloomberg article
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