Despite a strong push by Intel to attract marquee customers for the Intel Foundry business over the past few years, the company has yet to do so. However, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan expressed optimism about its future during Intel’s earnings call last month.
The executive who led Intel’s efforts to win over customers for its contract chip manufacturing business has left the company for a top role at Qualcomm.
Kevin O’Buckley, who was senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services, will join Qualcomm as vice president of global operations and supply chain this Monday, the rival semiconductor firm announced Thursday. He will report to Akash Palkhiwala, executive vice president, CFO and COO at Qualcomm.
[Related: 13 Major Intel Executive Hires, Exits And Other Moves Under Lip-Bu Tan]
“Kevin brings deep operational expertise, proven commercial leadership, and decades of experience scaling complex semiconductor operations and delivering custom silicon products across data center and edge devices,” said Palkhiwala in a statement. “His leadership will further strengthen our global operations as we continue to deliver industry-leading products with high-performance, low-power computing, AI and connectivity at scale.”
In a statement to CRN, an Intel spokesperson reiterated the company’s view of Intel Foundry as “one of Intel’s highest strategic priorities” and said that the “organization is focused on disciplined execution and delivering for customers” under the leadership of Naga Chandrasekaran, whose responsibilities for the business expanded last year.
“We thank Kevin O’Buckley for his contributions to Foundry Services and wish him the very best as he pursues an opportunity outside the company,” the representative added.
Despite a strong push by Intel to attract marquee customers for the Intel Foundry business over the past few years, the company has yet to do so. However, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan expressed optimism about its future last month, noting that two potential customers are testing Intel’s next-generation Intel 14A process and could make commitments later this year.
O’Buckley joined Intel as the company’s top Intel Foundry executive in May 2024, which made him the third executive to run the business since 2021. And he arrived just months after the company marked the official launch of Intel Foundry.
The executive saw changes to his responsibilities and position in Intel’s leadership structure several months ago. This happened last September, when Tan expanded the responsibilities of Chandrasekaran, who joined Intel later in 2024 to lead Intel Foundry’s manufacturing and supply chain operations, to Intel Foundry Services.
This meant that O’Buckley would no longer report to the CEO and would instead serve as a direct report for Chandrasekaran, who remains on Tan’s executive leadership team.
At the time, Intel said this move would create a “more integrated structure spanning technology development, manufacturing and go-to-market to better serve customers.”
Before taking on Intel Foundry Services, Chandrasekaran’s responsibilities expanded earlier last year to assume leadership of Intel’s technology development team following the retirement of longtime executive Anne Kelleher. His full title is now executive vice president, chief technology and operations officer and general manager of Intel Foundry.
