Intel's CEO assumes direct oversight of AI efforts following an executive's departure to OpenAI.

Intel announced on Monday that CEO Lip-Bu Tan would oversee the chipmaker's artificial intelligence efforts following the departure of chief technology officer Sachin Katti, who joined ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Katti, who has led Intel's AI efforts since a management reorganization in January, announced his move on social media site X.

In response, Intel stated: "We thank Sachin for his contributions and wish him all the best. Lip-Bu will lead the AI and Advanced Technologies Groups, working closely with the team." The company emphasized that "AI remains one of Intel's highest strategic priorities, and we are focused on executing our technology and product roadmap across emerging AI workloads."

At OpenAI, President Greg Brockman said that Katti would be "designing and building our compute infrastructure, which will power our (artificial general intelligence) research and scale its applications to benefit everyone." Katti's departure represents the latest in a series of high-level executive exits from Intel since Tan assumed leadership in March and began a turnaround effort at the struggling chipmaker.

Intel faces significant competitive challenges in the semiconductor industry. While the company's central processors are used in AI server systems—albeit at a smaller scale than mainstream AI chips—Intel has struggled to produce a data center AI chip that can compete with silicon designed by Nvidia and manufactured by Taiwan's TSMC. The company has also struggled to attract major customers for its contract manufacturing business, or foundry.

Katti joined Intel roughly four years ago and worked in the networking group, which he eventually led under former CEO Pat Gelsinger. Tan promoted Katti to chief technology officer and chief AI officer in April while flattening the company's leadership structure. Prior to Intel, Katti was a Stanford professor for nearly 15 years. Under Tan's tenure, several other executives have experienced changes: Naga Chandrasekaran, who previously ran Intel's manufacturing subsidiary, was given expanded responsibility for working with external contract manufacturing customers, while Kevork Kechichian, a former Arm executive, was hired to run the company's data center unit.