Intel's technology development chief Ann Kelleher to retire, sparking leadership overhaul ahead of 18A production start

Dr Ann Kelleher, the executive vice president at Intel responsible for developing Intel’s fabrication technologies since 2020, announced plans to retire sometime later this year after three decades at the company, Intel told Tom's Hardware.

The announcement comes five months after the company had revealed a succession plan. Kelleher will stay on as an advisor.

Kelleher will be succeeded by Naga Chandrasekaran, who will be responsible for the development and implementation of semiconductor manufacturing processes. Navid Shahriari will be responsible for various back-end operations, such as advanced packaging. Kelleher will serve as a strategic adviser on technology development and production.

"As previously announced, Dr. Ann Kelleher plans to retire later this year following a distinguished career spanning over 30 years with Intel," a statement by Intel reads. "With a strong foundry leadership team in place and Intel 18A progressing well ahead of our first product launch and external customer tape-outs, this is a well-planned transition as we continue to advance our Foundry priorities in service to customers." 

New appointments and new management structure

Naga Chandrasekaran has been appointed to a newly established position as head of technology and operations at Intel Foundry, where he will oversee front-end process technology development and manufacturing. In this capacity, he will be in charge of both the Technology Development (TD) group and the Foundry Manufacturing and Supply Chain (FMSC) organization (which he has been overseeing since mid-2024).

Chandrasekaran comes from Micron, where he was in charge of global technology development, advanced packaging, and emerging technology solutions. Intel says he played a key role in unifying technology development and production teams to function as a single, cohesive unit.

With this appointment, Intel is looking forward to integrating TD and production under one leadership, possibly to ensure fast ramps, low defect density (high yields), and low performance variability.

Navid Shahriari — who was meant to succeed Kelleher at Process Development (PD) — was named executive vice president and will lead a newly created organization focused on back-end chip production. In his new role, he will be overseeing the organization that includes Assembly Test Technology Development (ATTD), Die Manufacturing/Manufacturing Operations (DMO), Assembly Test Manufacturing (ATM), and C4 Wafer Sort operations. 

By putting Shahriari in charge of the organization, which spans from development to manufacturing, Intel is likely emphasizing advanced packaging/assembly as a strategic differentiator. That means Shahriari will focus on developing new multi-chiplet integration technologies and getting them from lab to fab as quickly as possible.

Shahriari’s new role ties back to his TD roots, so his deep experience in process engineering and technology development could be instrumental in guiding how advanced R&D translates into high-volume production.

After setting the stage for future nodes, Kelleher will serve as adviser

Ann Kelleher's departure marks a major shift in leadership as Intel is about to start production on its 18A process technology, which is Intel's first leading-edge node designed for both its own products and external customers. 

By now, Intel has probably completed all the R&D work not only for its 18A-P, 3-E, and 3-PT process technologies that will succeed 18A and expand applications for Intel 3 nodes, but has completed the majority of R&D milestones for 14A (1.4nm-class), the company's next-generation leading-edge manufacturing node. In fact, scientists and engineers at Intel are hard at work on post-14A fabrication processes. To summarize, Kelleher has set the stage for Intel's technology development for years to come. However, her succession plan announced last year will change significantly.

Before Ann Kelleher leaves Intel later this year, she will serve as a strategic adviser to Intel Foundry and its differentiated technology development offerings, chiplet standards, and software, as well as U.S.- and Europe-based capacity. Ann Kelleher became the head of technology development at Intel in 2020 and completely rebuilt the whole organization to support Pat Gelsinger’s extremely aggressive 5N4Y roadmap to develop five new production nodes in four years. Before that, she was responsible for Intel’s worldwide manufacturing operations. Hence, she will advise on both technology development and production capacity.