Intel Appoints CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Lead AI Strategy After CTO Sachin Katti Joins OpenAI

Intel announced that CEO Lip-Bu Tan will now oversee the company’s artificial intelligence initiatives following the departure of its Chief Technology Officer, Sachin Katti, who has joined OpenAI. Katti, who had led Intel’s AI division since January, confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that he is joining OpenAI to design and build compute infrastructure supporting artificial general intelligence (AGI) research and large-scale AI applications.

In a statement, Intel expressed appreciation for Katti’s contributions and reaffirmed its commitment to advancing AI technology. “AI remains one of Intel’s highest strategic priorities, and we are focused on executing our technology and product roadmap across emerging AI workloads,” the company said.

Katti joined Intel four years ago, initially working in the networking group before becoming CTO and Chief AI Officer earlier this year under Tan’s leadership. Prior to his tenure at Intel, Katti was a Stanford University professor for nearly 15 years, specializing in computer networking and systems.

Lip-Bu Tan, who became CEO in March, has been restructuring Intel’s leadership to drive a turnaround amid intense competition in the semiconductor market. The company has faced challenges in attracting major clients for its contract manufacturing business and has struggled to rival Nvidia’s dominance in AI chip performance. Despite its strong position in central processing units (CPUs) used in AI servers, Intel continues to lag behind in developing competitive data center AI chips.

As part of the reorganization, Tan has expanded executive roles and brought in new leaders, including Naga Chandrasekaran to strengthen manufacturing partnerships and former Arm executive Kevork Kechichian to head Intel’s data center unit.