Intel engineering leader Murthy Renduchintala will leave as the company mulls manufacturing shift

Intel said Monday that Venkata “Murthy” Renduchintala, the chipmaker’s chief engineering officer and group president of its technology, systems architecture and client group, will resign on August 3. 

The announcement shows Intel is reconsidering various aspects of its operations as it deals with ongoing manufacturing difficulties, including to release next-generation processors. In its Q2 earnings report on Thursday, Intel said it was behind schedule in coming out with chips that use a 7-nanometer architecture, while competitor AMD already offers chips with transistors that small. CEO Bob Swan said Intel is evaluating whether it would make sense to start using other companies’ chip foundries, rather than relying purely on its own. 

The next day, Intel shares fell 16%, the largest single-day decline since March 16. AMD stock rose almost 17%. Intel decided to make the change that day, the company said in a filing.

Renduchintala was reportedly seen as a possible replacement for Brian Krzanich, who resigned from his role as CEO in 2018 in connection with a consensual relationship with an employee.

He joined Intel in 2015 from Qualcomm, where he had spent almost 12 years and had most recently been an executive vice president, according to his LinkedIn profile. Intel initially put him in charge of its client and internet of things businesses and its systems architecture group. In 2016 he sent other top leaders a memo laying out a plan to address what he called “competitiveness gaps.” 

In his most recent role, Renduchintala had leadership in technology, engineering and manufacturing.

“His group brings together all of Intel’s major technology, engineering and manufacturing functions,” Intel said of Renduchintala on its website. “These functions encompass semiconductor process technology, manufacturing and operations, systems and product architecture, IP development, design and system-on-chip (SoC) engineering, software and security, and Intel Labs..”

He was among Intel’s highest-paid executives, with $26,885,400 in total compensation for the year that ended on December 28, 2019, according to a filing.

Renduchintala’s group is being split into five, including the technology development group led by Ann Kelleher, who will work on bringing out 7-nanometer chips. She joined Intel in 1996. Intel has been working to increase the diversity of its leaders. 

Intel had determined on Friday, as the company saw that Renduchintala’s role would be eliminated, the company said in a

WATCH: Traders discuss Bernstein’s call that Intel is ‘basically un-ownable’