By Max A. Cherney
SAN FRANCISCO, March 3 (Reuters) - Intel said on Tuesday that board chair Frank Yeary plans to retire following the company's annual meeting in May and will be replaced by Craig Barratt.
A year after Lip-Bu Tan came on board as CEO, Yeary's departure is a major shakeup for the struggling U.S. chipmaker's board. Last year, three board members announced their retirement several weeks after Tan took the helm. Since becoming CEO, Tan has implemented a plan to turn around the company.
Yeary served on the board since 2009 and was chair since 2023. He has presided over four CEO transitions during his tenure and has dealt with the decline of Intel's manufacturing and the rise of Taiwanese rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Prior to Tan's installment as CEO, he served on the Intel board with Yeary until Tan left due to differences over the company's turnaround plans.
In a statement, Yeary praised the company's progress on reviving its manufacturing technology and noted that he and the board selected Tan last year.
The incoming chair, Barratt, joined the Intel board in 2025 and has experience working at Qualcomm, and at Alphabet's Google. Intel previously had a CEO named Craig Barrett.
Since his appointment as CEO, Tan has made big changes to Intel. Last year, he discussed a plan to lay off roughly 15% of its workforce to reduce its total headcount to 75,000 and has attempted to reshape the company's strategy to tackle artificial intelligence.
Over the summer, Tan drew the attention of U.S. President Donald Trump, who called for his resignation over conflicts of interest. Tan has since charmed the American president, whose administration negotiated for a 10% stake in the company instead of providing money awarded under the CHIPS Act.
(Reporting by Max A. Cherney and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
