If you haven’t checked the news since 2024, you’re in for a shock. The guy you probably associate with Intel’s massive comeback attempt—Pat Gelsinger—is gone. Honestly, it was a messy exit. After decades at the company and a high-profile stint as the savior-in-chief, Gelsinger stepped down in December 2024. This left a massive, chip-shaped hole at the top of the tech world.
So, who is the CEO of Intel today?
The man holding the reins in 2026 is Lip-Bu Tan. He isn't some corporate placeholder or a generic suit brought in to keep the lights on. He is a semiconductor legend. If you've ever tracked the turnaround of Cadence Design Systems, you know his name. He was appointed as Intel’s ninth CEO in March 2025, following a brief period where David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus ran the show as interim co-CEOs.
Tan didn't just walk into a job; he walked into a war zone.
The Man Who Came Back to Save the Ship
Lip-Bu Tan’s relationship with Intel is... complicated. He actually served on Intel’s board of directors starting in 2022 but famously quit in August 2024. Rumor has it he was frustrated with the slow pace of change and the bloated bureaucracy. It’s kinda ironic, right? He leaves because he's annoyed with how things are run, and six months later, the board begs him to come back and run the whole thing.
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He officially took over on March 18, 2025.
What makes Tan different from Gelsinger is his background. While Pat was an engineer’s engineer who loved the "Intel culture," Tan is a cold-blooded efficiency expert with deep roots in venture capital. He founded Walden International and has spent decades spotting winners in the chip space. When he took the CEO role, he didn't give a flowery speech about the "Intel family." Instead, he basically said the company needed to stop being so slow and start acting like a startup again.
Why the Leadership Swap Actually Happened
Let's be real for a second. Pat Gelsinger had a vision—the "IDM 2.0" strategy. He wanted Intel to build its own chips and everyone else’s chips too. It was an expensive gamble. We’re talking tens of billions of dollars. But by late 2024, the stock was in the gutter, and the "five nodes in four years" plan was stressing the company's finances to the breaking point.
Investors lost patience. The board felt like they needed a "Foundry First" mindset.
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When Lip-Bu Tan stepped in, he immediately started hacking away at the overhead. He flattened the organization. You've probably noticed that names like Michelle Johnston Holthaus—a 30-year veteran—are no longer on the executive list. Tan wanted a direct line to his product teams. No more layers. No more "meetings about meetings."
The State of Intel Under Lip-Bu Tan in 2026
It’s now early 2026, and the "Lip-Bu effect" is starting to show up in the numbers. Just look at the recent headlines from CES 2026. Intel finally launched the Core Ultra Series 3 (Panther Lake). These are the first chips built on the 18A process—the "holy grail" of manufacturing that Gelsinger promised but Tan had to actually deliver.
The technical specs are actually pretty wild:
- Sub-2 nanometer architecture (a first for U.S. soil).
- Massive focus on "AI PCs" to compete with Apple’s M-series.
- Power efficiency that doesn't make your laptop feel like a space heater.
But the biggest shift isn't the chips themselves; it's who is paying for them. Under Tan, Intel has secured massive foundry deals with companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS). He even managed to get the U.S. government to take a 9.9% stake in the company. That’s right—as of late 2025, Uncle Sam is officially a shareholder.
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Is He Winning?
"Winning" is a strong word. Intel is still fighting for its life against TSMC and NVIDIA. But the vibe has changed. Honestly, the mood in Santa Clara is less "desperate survival" and more "calculated execution."
Tan has made some brutal calls. He paused multi-billion dollar projects in Poland and Germany for two years. Why? Because the market wasn't ready, and he didn't want to bleed cash. That’s the kind of discipline Intel was missing for a decade. He’s also brought in fresh blood from rivals, like Kevork Kechichian from Arm to run the Data Center Group.
Key Facts About Lip-Bu Tan’s Leadership
- Direct Accountability: He eliminated the "CEO of Intel Products" role entirely. Now, the heads of the Data Center, Client Computing, and Foundry divisions report straight to him.
- U.S. Manufacturing: He is the primary liaison with the Trump administration’s push to reshore chip production. If you saw the news about the "Great Meeting" with the President in January 2026, that was Tan making sure Intel stays at the center of the national security conversation.
- Efficiency Focus: He is targeting $10 billion in savings. This isn't just about layoffs; it's about reusing equipment across different manufacturing nodes to save on capital expenditures.
What This Means for You
If you're a consumer, the fact that Lip-Bu Tan is the CEO of Intel means your next laptop might actually stay cool and last all day. The focus has shifted from "making the most chips" to "making the best chips on the best process."
If you're an investor, it means the era of "hopium" is over. Tan is a numbers guy. He isn't going to tell you a fairy tale about the future; he’s going to show you the foundry yields and the customer contracts.
Next Steps for Staying Informed:
- Watch the 18A Ramp: Keep an eye on the 18A-P and 14A process updates throughout 2026. These are the milestones that will determine if Tan can truly catch TSMC.
- Monitor the Foundry Spin-off: There are persistent rumors that Tan might eventually spin off the Intel Foundry into a completely separate company to unlock value.
- Check the AI PC Reviews: The Core Ultra Series 3 is the real test of whether Intel's new "Central Engineering" group (led by Srini Iyengar) can actually beat Apple and AMD on performance-per-watt.
The bottom line is that the Intel of 2026 is a very different beast than the one we knew two years ago. It's leaner, it's backed by the government, and it's led by a man who knows exactly how much a transistor is worth.