Intel is still struggling to make more of the post-PC era, but the chip maker will be getting some new leadership in many important areas very soon. On Monday, the chip giant announced that Doug Davis is planning to retire at the end of the year. Also Kirk Skaugen will be leaving Intel.
Three key departures for Intel
Doug Davis, who heads Intel’s $2 billion Internet of Things group, is planning to retire by this year’s end, but no replacement has been found yet. So the company has asked Davis to stay on until a replacement is declared.
“Doug first started with Intel in 1984 and has held numerous leadership roles over his 32-year career here,” the chip maker said in a blog post.
Kirk Skaugen, the head of Intel’s massive $34 billion client computing group, is leaving the company as well. Intel said Skaugen is walking towards an undisclosed “next career opportunity” and will be gone by the end of the week. However, his successor has been appointed. Navin Shenoy, one of Skaugen’s deputies, will replace him. Shenoy had overseen Intel’s notebook and tablet efforts.
The news of the planned departures of Davis and Skaugen follows the news of Aicha Evans getting out after less than a year on the job. Evans was heading Intel’s lagging mobile chip unit.
Diversifying away from PCs
Owing to the drop in PC sales over the last few years, Intel has increasingly tried to branch out into new areas with chips for smartphones and all kinds of IoT devices. There had been an 8% fall in PC group sales last year, but it still brought in around 58% of the chip maker’s total annual revenue. Also last year, the IoT unit’s sales reached around $2.3 billion, a 7% increase from 2014.
Intel, the leader in PCs, failed to build a better and comparable franchise in chips for smartphones. Even though some analysts believe the chip maker has been in the running to supply some wireless chips to Apple, there has been nothing certain as yet. Intel is scheduled to report its quarterly results on April 19.
On Monday, Intel shares closed down 1.39% at $32. Year to date, the stock is down by almost 9%, while in the last year, it is up by over 4%. The stock has a 52-week high of $35.59 and a 52-week low of $24.87.
