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[SINGAPORE] US chip giant Intel announced that it has appointed semiconductor veteran Tan Lip-Bu as its new chief executive officer.

Tan, 65, will take the helm on Mar 18 as Intel’s fourth permanent CEO in seven years. He will also return to the board after stepping down in August 2024.

He will receive compensation valued at about US$69 million if he reaches targets over the coming years. The package includes a salary of US$1 million, plus a 200 per cent performance-based bonus, the chipmaker said in a filing on Friday (Mar 14). It also includes US$66 million in long-term equity awards and stock options and new-hire incentives.

Intel shares rallied 12 per cent in extended trading on Wednesday (Mar 12) and after a down year which saw its shares plummet 60 per cent.

Armed with more than 20 years of semiconductor and software experience, Tan faces the mammoth task of reversing the company’s fortunes. His forerunner Pat Gelsinger was ousted from the board for his perceived failure to revive its product lineup.

While still one of the world’s biggest chipmakers by revenue, Intel battles fierce competition today from rivals such as Nvidia and is saddled with debt, market share loss, manufacturing challenges and steep drops in earnings.

Here are some things to know about Tan:

Malaysia-born and Singapore-grown Nanyang University alumni, with a love for basketball and fighting fish

Born in 1959 in Muar, Johor, Tan’s nomadic early years were spent in the Malaysian state, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

His childhood pastimes were basketball, playing with fighting fish and collecting spiders. 

Majoring in physics at the private Chinese university Nanyang University (NU), popularly known as Nantah, from 1975 to 1978, he graduated at just 19.

He later left for the US to pursue a master’s degree in nuclear engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 1978 and 1981 on a scholarship, and then began a doctorate in the field before giving it up to pursue a master’s degree in business administration at the University of San Francisco from 1981 to 1983, his LinkedIn profile shows.

As a young man, he displayed business flair by securing funding for research projects while a student. 

In 2022, he was conferred the Robert N Noyce Award, the Semiconductor Industry Association’s highest honour that recognises individuals for outstanding achievement and leadership in the field.

From 2006 to 2011, Tan served as trustee of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the public university that occupies the site of the now defunct NU. Alumni rolls of former NU students were transferred to NTU.

In 2024, he pledged S$3 million to support NTU’s first artificial intelligence professorship, and helped launch the university’s S$50 million venture capital (VC) fund – the Nanyang Frontier Fund – dedicated to supporting its deep-tech spinoffs.

He is now an American citizen and lives in San Francisco. 

Multi-hyphenate tech startup investor who led “reinvention” of former company he helmed

A longstanding Silicon Valley investor, Tan has extensive experience in the semiconductor space and is active in several companies.  

He poured money into semiconductor and hardware startups at a time when others favoured less risky investments such as software, The New York Times said. He believes in taking “calculated risks”, he told The Straits Times.

Forbes dubbed him “pioneer of Asian VC”, a nod to how he began investing in Asian tech companies before it was in fashion.

Tan was formerly CEO of tech and computational software company Cadence Design Systems from 2009 to 2021 and is credited for its turnaround.

Cadence, a Nasdaq-listed US company, makes software for major chip designers including Intel. Under his charge, its revenue grew from around US$850 million to US$3 billion, and its stock price shot up nearly 5,000 per cent, The Straits Times reported.

Tan is also the founding managing partner of early-stage VC fund Walden Catalyst Ventures and chairman of international VC firm Walden International.

He holds “significant public company board experience” and presently sits on Credo Technology Group’s and Schneider Electric’s boards, said Intel. He was previously on the boards of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and SoftBank Group, reported Reuters. 

“Lip-Bu is an exceptional leader whose technology industry expertise, deep relationships across the product and foundry ecosystems, and proven track record of creating shareholder value is exactly what Intel needs in its next CEO,” said Frank Yeary, interim executive chair of Intel’s board.

“Throughout his long and distinguished career, he has earned a reputation as an innovator who puts customers at the heart of everything he does, delivers differentiated solutions to win in the market and builds high-performance cultures to achieve success,” Yeary added.

Tan also became executive chairman of Nvidia competitor SambaNova Systems in May 2024. 

Navigating Intel’s future: chip foundry and takeover offers

Tan is stepping up at a time when Intel’s fate murky, as talks of a once-implausible takeover resurfaced recently.

With the company struggling in what Bloomberg called “the toughest period in its 56-year history”, news broke in September 2024 that it was approached by Qualcomm for a potential acquisition – possibly one of the biggest merger and acquisition deals ever.

As future CEO, Tan will have to face potential takeover suitors and decide whether to stick with Gelsinger’s stance – that splitting Intel is unnecessary.

He has expressed intent to continue down Gelsinger’s path to turn Intel into a semiconductor foundry – a contract manufacturer that makes products for outside clients.

Addressing employees in a company website memo, Tan said he was confident of turning Intel around. He wrote: “We will work hard to restore Intel’s position as a world-class products company, establish ourselves as a world-class foundry and delight our customers like never before.”

“I am joining because I believe with every fibre of my being that we have what it takes to win.”