Tan is a revered veteran of the semiconductor trade who has obtained the Semiconductor Business Affiliation’s highest honour in 2022 – the Robert N Noyce Award – named after the American physicist who invented the primary silicon microchip.
The 65-year-old Malaysian-born govt studied physics at Nanyang Technological College in Singapore. He holds a grasp’s diploma in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how, and an MBA from the College of San Francisco.
Tan believed that comparatively small groups of startup engineers with good chip design concepts might efficiently compete in opposition to incumbent chip giants, and he poured cash into lots of of startups.
He took a stake in Annapurna Labs, a startup later bought by Amazon for US$370 million that has turn into the guts of its in-house chip division. Amazon says it now deploys extra of its personal central processors than it does these from Intel.
Tan has been chairperson of Walden Worldwide, a enterprise capital agency, since 1984 and was on the boards of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and SoftBank Group.
Tan was early to recognise a significant development that has swept the chip trade over the previous 30 years – that designing chips and manufacturing them would break up into two totally different specialties. He helmed Intel provider and chip-design maker Cadence Design Techniques between 2009 and 2021.
Over Tan’s time at Cadence, the agency’s inventory appreciated 3,200 per cent and it landed Apple as one among its largest prospects because the iPhone maker shifted away from suppliers similar to Intel and towards its personal chips.
Tan was appointed to Intel’s board in 2022 as a part of a plan to revive the corporate’s place because the main international chipmaker. A yr later, Intel expanded his duties to incorporate oversight of producing operations. Nevertheless, Tan stepped down from the board final yr over disagreements on the best way to flip across the firm.
In his letter to staff, Tan described himself as somebody who’s “by no means deterred by challenges”.
“I imagine we now have a really distinctive alternative to remake our firm at some of the pivotal moments in its historical past,” he stated.
“Underneath my management, Intel will probably be an engineering-focused firm,” Tan stated.
“We are going to push ourselves to develop the most effective merchandise, hear intently to our prospects and maintain ourselves accountable to the commitments we make in order that we construct belief.”
