Intel has brought in a familiar face to help steer its embattled contract chipmaking business. On Thursday, the company named Seok-Hee Lee — the former CEO of South Korean memory giant SK Hynix — as executive vice president of Intel Foundry, the division that manufactures chips for outside customers.
According to Reuters, the appointment comes as Intel sharpens its focus on advanced packaging, the increasingly important process of stitching together chip components to boost performance. Reuters reports that Lee is being tapped specifically to help lead that packaging push.
The move is also something of a homecoming. According to Wccftech, Lee is returning to Intel after years away, taking charge of the foundry business and advanced packaging technologies.
Lee isn't the only executive getting a new mandate. Per Reuters, Naga Chandrasekaran will lead front-end technology development and front-end manufacturing — the earlier stages of producing a chip, before packaging.
The sources don't detail Lee's prior tenure at Intel or lay out specific targets for the division. What's clear is that Intel is reshuffling leadership at the heart of its manufacturing ambitions, splitting responsibilities between front-end production and the packaging work where Lee will concentrate.
Why it matters: Intel is staking much of its future on becoming a foundry that builds chips for other companies, and bringing in a veteran from a major rival to oversee that effort signals how seriously the company is competing for that business.