Intel’s CTO jumps to OpenAI, leaving CEO Lip-Bu Tan to lead AI push
Tan to lead AI and Advanced Technologies Groups as Sachin Katti joins OpenAI’s infrastructure team.
Intel said on Monday that its CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, will personally oversee the chipmaker’s artificial intelligence operations following the departure of its chief technology officer, Sachin Katti, to OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
Katti, who has led Intel’s AI efforts since a management reshuffle in January, announced on social media platform X that he had joined OpenAI.
“We thank Sachin for his contributions and wish him all the best,” Intel said in a statement. “Lip-Bu will lead the AI and Advanced Technologies Groups, working closely with the team.”
Intel added that AI remains one of its highest strategic priorities, emphasizing its focus on executing the company’s technology and product roadmap for emerging AI workloads.
OpenAI President Greg Brockman confirmed the move on X, saying Katti would be “designing and building our compute infrastructure, which will power our artificial general intelligence (AGI) research and scale its applications to benefit everyone.” OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Katti’s departure marks another in a series of senior exits since Tan took over as CEO in March, as the veteran chip executive works to steer a turnaround at the struggling semiconductor giant. Intel has faced difficulties attracting major customers to its contract manufacturing arm, known as the foundry business.
While Intel’s central processors are used in AI server systems, albeit on a smaller scale than the dominant AI accelerators from Nvidia, the company has yet to produce a competitive data center AI chip to challenge Nvidia’s silicon, which is manufactured by TSMC.
Katti joined Intel about four years ago, initially working in the networking division, which he later led under former CEO Pat Gelsinger. Tan promoted him to Chief Technology Officer and Chief AI Officer in April as part of efforts to flatten Intel’s management structure. Before joining Intel, Katti was a Stanford University professor for nearly 15 years.
Since taking the helm, Tan has elevated several executives and expanded key roles. Among them, Naga Chandrasekaran, head of Intel’s manufacturing subsidiary, was given broader responsibility for working with external contract manufacturing customers. Tan has also recruited senior talent from outside the company, including former Arm executive Kevork Kechichian, who now leads Intel’s data center business.
