On April 18, according to Jiemian News, an internal memo of Intel showed that Intel's new CEO Chen Liwu has begun to streamline the management structure, and the important chip department will report directly to him in the future.

"I'm going to roll up my sleeves with the engineering and product teams to really understand how we can strengthen our product capabilities and solutions." Chen Liwu said.

Specifically, Intel's data center and artificial intelligence chip division and client computing (PC chip) division will report directly to him. Previously, the two businesses had been managed by Michelle Johnston Holthaus, CEO of Intel's product division.

The memo also shows that Intel has promoted Sachin Katti, the head of network chips, to CTO and also the head of AI.

It's worth noting that previously, Intel's executive team was mostly business unit heads, and technology leaders were often under multiple layers of management by the CEO. Chen Liwu asked three senior technology executives, Rob Bruckner, Mike Hurley and Lisa Pearce, to report directly to him in the future.

In recent years, Intel has made a series of mistakes in manufacturing processes and product routes, resulting in its market share being continuously eroded by TSMC, AMD and NVIDIA.

Between 2021 and 2024, Intel's revenue fell by more than 30%, and in 2024 CEO Pat Gelsinger resigned amid the company's financial losses and falling stock prices.

In March, Intel announced that its board of directors had appointed Liwu Chen as CEO.

After Chen Liwu took office, the keyword "focus on core business" appeared in the news related to him many times.

In the early morning of April 1, 14 days after taking office as CEO, Chen Liwu made his first appearance and delivered a speech of about 30 minutes at the Intel Vision 2025 conference.

In this speech, Chen Liwu said that Intel will divest assets that are not related to its mission and turn to key business and service solutions such as purpose-built silicon and foundry. He emphasized that Intel must streamline its architecture and return to its core competencies of engineering.

On the evening of April 14, Intel announced that it had reached an agreement with private equity firm Silver Lake Capital to sell shares in Altera, an FPGA subsidiary. Silver Lake will buy a 51% stake in Altera at a valuation of $8.75 billion.

In fiscal 2024, Altera reported revenue of $1.54 billion, GAAP gross profit of $361 million and an operating loss of $615 million. On a non-GAAP basis, Altera's gross profit was $769 million and operating income was $35 million in fiscal 2024.

Upon completion of the transaction, Intel expects to divest Altera's financial results from its financial statements. Intel said that going forward, the company will continue to hold the remaining 49% of Altera and continue to participate in its future development, but the focus is on focusing on its core business.

It is worth noting that in 2022, Intel also invited Chen Liwu to join the board of directors and asked him to help revitalize Intel. In October of the following year, Chen's responsibilities were further expanded to oversee manufacturing operations. However, in August 2024, he stepped down from Intel and left the board of directors.

There was no response from Mr. Chen as to the reason for his departure, but in his first speech in April, Mr. Chen talked about why he returned to Intel. The answer is simple. I love this company. It was hard to watch it struggle forward. He said that in the future, Intel's goal is to create the best products and become the best foundry.

Chen Liwu is an out-and-out "veteran" of the semiconductor industry, now 65 years old, he has more than 20 years of investment and technology management experience in the semiconductor and software industries.

From 2009 to 2021, Chen served as CEO of Cadence Design Systems, an EDA (chip and electronic system design automation) giant.

He is also known as the "Godfather of Chip Ventures" in the industry, and is the founding managing partner of Walden Catalyst Ventures and chairman of Walden International.

Founded in 1987, Walden International invests in semiconductor, Internet and new energy start-ups in the U.S. and Asian markets. Since entering China in 1993, it has invested in SMIC (688981. SH), China Micro Semiconductor and other more than 120 semiconductor companies, covering the entire industrial chain of design, manufacturing, equipment and materials.

In 2020, as a founding shareholder and director, Chen Liwu led SMIC to successfully list on the STAR Market. Chen Liwu once mentioned that on the eve of SMIC's long listing, many investors withdrew from SMIC's board of directors due to factors such as a long cycle, but he always firmly believed that SMIC's future could be expected. At IPO, he became SMIC's only 18-year director.

(Times Finance Wang Xia integrated from the interface news, Finance Associated Press, Securities Times, Daily Economic News, Sina Finance, Qianjiang Evening News, Intel China, Titanium Media, etc.).