Intel has appointed industry veteran Robert Swan as its seventh CEO.
Swan has been promoted from CFO and interim CEO, but the board has now chosen him to lead the chip manufacturer into its next phase of growth.
Specifically, Swan will help lead Intel to explore new technologies, such as AI and driverless car research as the company hopes to diversify its offering to keep up with its rivals.
He has been serving as interim CEO for the last seven months and CFO since 2016, making him a very qualified person to take the position on full-time.
"As Intel continues to transform its business to capture more of a large and expanding opportunity that includes the data center, artificial intelligence and autonomous driving, while continuing to get value from the PC business, the board concluded after a thorough search that Bob is the right leader to drive Intel into its next era of growth," said Chairman Andy Bryant.
"Bob's performance, his knowledge of the business, his command of our growth strategy, and the respect he has earned from our customers, our owners, and his colleagues confirmed he is the right executive to lead Intel."
Before joining Intel, Swan held positions at General Atlantic as a member of the company's Applied Materials' board and spent nine years as CFO of eBay. He's also had financial leadership titles at Electronic Data Systems, TRW, Webvan Group and General Electric.
"This is an exciting time for Intel: 2018 was an outstanding year and we are in the midst of transforming the company to pursue our biggest market opportunity ever," Swan said. I'm honored to have the chance to continue working alongside our board, our leadership team, and our more than 107,000 superb employees as we take the company forward."
