Intel Hires Ex-Qualcomm Executive Murthy Renduchintala to Run Top Unit

Now that he’s at Intel, Renduchintala will be under huge pressure to turn its mobile business around after it lost $4.21bn in 2014.

Ex-Qualcomm executive Dr Murthy Renduchintala has been appointed as the president of Intel and will take charge of its Client and Internet of Things (IoT) Businesses and Systems Architecture Group. Intel still brings in the bulk of its revenue from its PC processor business, but the global PC market continues to shrink, and the chip maker is moving aggressively to expand its data center business and pursue new growth areas like the IoT. So it’s unexpected but not too surprising that the man who will run Intel’s PC, mobile, IoT and software businesses was a top executive at Qualcomm until yesterday.

But if Renduchintala adapts and does well, the coordination of chip development across PC, mobile and IOT products may become smoother, Brookwood said.

Following the departure of Intel president Renee James in July this year, Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich has been working on a shake-up.

Prior to Intel Renduchintala was the co-president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, formerly Qualcomm Mobile and Computing, responsible for oversight of all semiconductor operations in the named market segments – or, to put it another way, the majority of Qualcomm’s semiconductor business. “The calibre of leadership and experience Murthy brings to our executive team represents a significant move toward delivering the benefits of our strategy even faster than before“. It added, “Cristiano Amon was the clear choice as President of the chipset business”.

“Murthy was offered another role within Qualcomm, but he chose to leave the company instead”, the San Diego-based chipmaker said in an email. “A few months ago we made the decision to move away from a co-president leadership structure for QCT”, the company said.

The news of Renduchintala’s appointment follows rumours earlier this year that Qualcomm would merge with Intel following a glut of problems, including the dumping of 15 percent of its workforce – about 4,500 staff.