Intel has announced the appointment of a new head of its contract chip manufacturing division: Naga Chandrasekaran, who came to Intel from Micron, where he served as senior vice president of technology development. He will now report directly to Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.
Chandrasekaran has been appointed director of global operations, executive vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Manufacturing and Supply Chain. In this post, he will replace Keyvan Esfarjani, who decided to leave Intel after almost 30 years of service. Intel said Esfarjani’s distinguished career has laid a strong foundation for the Intel Foundry, and his leadership in global supply chain sustainability and manufacturing excellence have helped ensure the company’s long-term success. He will remain with Intel until the end of this year to ensure a smooth transition for Chandrasekaran to his new position.
Chandrasekaran will join Intel on August 12. He will be responsible for Intel Foundry’s worldwide manufacturing operations, including fab manufacturing, assembly testing, Intel Foundry strategic planning, corporate quality assurance and supply chain.
«Naga is a highly accomplished executive whose deep experience in semiconductor manufacturing and technology development will be a tremendous addition to our team,” Gelsinger commented on the appointment. “As we continue to build a globally resilient semiconductor supply chain and create the world’s first factory ecosystem for the AI era, Nagi’s leadership will help us accelerate our progress and capitalize on significant long-term growth opportunities in the future,” the Intel CEO added.
During his more than 20 years of service at Micron, Chandrasekharan held various leadership positions. Most recently, he led Micron’s global and engineering efforts related to scaling advanced memory technologies and advanced packaging technologies, as well as innovative technology solutions. He previously served as Micron’s senior vice president of research, development and operations. He has experience in semiconductor manufacturing, as well as process and equipment design and research, device technology, mask technology and many other areas.
Chandrasekaran holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Madras (India), an MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University (USA), a MS in Computer Science and Data Science from the University of California at Berkeley (USA), and an Executive MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles. Angeles (UCLA Graduate School of Management) and the National University of Singapore.
The Intel Foundry direction includes the development of chip production technologies (technical processes), global production, customer service (including Intel itself) and the operation of the company’s ecosystem. It brings together all the critical components needed by non-fabless customers to design and manufacture chips.