The whole world is watching Chen Liwu, the semiconductor veteran who has just been appointed as the CEO of Intel Corporation(INTC.US).

Wall Street has high expectations, with Intel’s stock price surging over 17% at one point during trading on March 14 Beijing time, and still closing up 14.60%.

On March 13, Intel announced: The company has appointed former board member and chip industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan as CEO, effective March 18.

Chen Liwu will succeed David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, who have been serving as interim co-CEOs since December 2024, and will rejoin the Intel board which he had resigned from in August 2024.

Intel’s interim Executive Chairman Frank D. Yeary highly praised Chen Liwu in a statement: “His expertise in the tech industry, his deep relationships with the product and foundry ecosystem, and his outstanding record of creating shareholder value are precisely what Intel needs for its next stage of development.”

After taking office, Zinsner will continue serving as Intel’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, while Johnston Holthaus will remain as the Chief Executive Officer of Intel’s product division.

During the search for a new CEO, Frank D. Yeary served as interim Executive Chairman of the board and will resume his role as independent non-Executive Chairman afterwards.

At 65 years old, Chen Liwu is a figure in the semiconductor industry akin to a “living fossil,” with a career spanning technology research and development, enterprise management, and venture capital, and having accumulated profound resources along the entire value chain.

Chen Liwu holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from MIT, and an MBA from the University of San Francisco.

Among Chen Liwu’s career highlights is his 12-year stewardship at electronic design automation (EDA) giant Cadence Design Systems (2009-2021).

At the beginning of his tenure, Cadence was facing fierce competition from Synopsys and Magma with its market share continuously declining. Does it somewhat resemble Intel’s current situation?

Through strengthening customer collaboration and acquiring key technology companies (such as system-level design tool provider Jasper Design Automation), Chen Liwu led Cadence’s transformation from a traditional EDA tool vendor to a system-level solution provider; by the time he left, the company’s revenue had doubled, operating profit margin increased from 10% to 34%, and the stock price had cumulatively risen over 3200%.

After leaving Cadence, Tan took the helm of the venture capital firm Walden Catalyst Ventures as a founding managing partner, focusing on cutting-edge fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.

At the same time, Tan served on the boards of several listed companies such as Schneider Electric and Credo Technology Group and was awarded the semiconductor industry’s highest honor, the “Robert N. Noyce Award,” in 2022. Earlier, Tan had received the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award from the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) in 2016.

Tan’s interaction with Intel began in September 2022 when he joined the board as a “semiconductor revival consultant” to help then-CEO Pat Gelsinger formulate a transformation strategy.

However, as Gelsinger’s aggressive investment plan became misaligned with market realities, their differences intensified, leading to Tan’s resignation from the board in August 2024.

Tan’s return not only highlights the board’s comprehensive reassessment of Gelsinger’s Intel revival strategy but also confirms Tan’s reputation and coordination ability within the industry.

Tan taking the reins at Intel signifies a thorough revision of Gelsinger’s direction for the company.

After Gelsinger took over Intel in 2021, he proposed the “IDM 2.0” strategy, investing $20 billion to build new wafer fabs in Ohio, with the intention of regaining the lead in manufacturing process through foundry business.

However, demand for consumer electronics has been weak since 2023, compounded by intensified competition in AI chips, resulting in a sharp drop in Intel’s capacity utilization rate. By the end of 2024, the company’s headcount had ballooned to 132,000 employees, yet its market value evaporated by more than $150 billion, only 1/30th of NVIDIA’s.

An even more fatal mistake was Intel’s slow response to artificial intelligence.

While NVIDIA dominated the GPU market with a “new product every year,” Intel still relied on its traditional CPU advantage and failed to timely introduce competitive accelerator products.

The slow progress of projects like Habana Labs and Ponte Vecchio, promulgated by Gelsinger, eventually forced the board to initiate a CEO replacement process in December 2024.

For Tan, taking over Intel is akin to “catching a fast-falling knife.” Right now, Tan faces three challenges, or tasks: Firstly, strategic contraction, which must balance investment and profitability.

The foundry expansion led by Gelsinger has resulted in capital expenditures exceeding 35% of revenue, far surpassing TSMC’s 20%-25%.

Will Tan adjust the investment pace? For example, prioritize securing the mass production of the Intel 18A (1.8nm) process and divest non-core assets.

During his time at Cadence, Tan’s “customer-centric” approach may encourage Intel to more closely tie itself to major clients like Apple and Microsoft, using order certainty to hedge against foundry risks.

Secondly, reshaping product strength to break through the life-and-death situation of AI and heterogeneous computing.

Intel has less than 1% market share in the AI training market, but with the Gaudi 3 accelerator card and open ecosystems (such as oneAPI), there still lies a chance to turn the tables.

Of course, this task is extremely challenging.

Tan needs to accelerate the integration of technical teams like Habana and Mobileye, while leveraging his connections in the EDA sector to optimize chip design processes. A potential advantage is that Tan’s venture capital background may help unearth AI startups for collaborations to make up for ecosystem shortfalls.

Thirdly, Tan must restore investor confidence, which will again test his mastery of market value management.

As of March 2025, Intel’s price-to-earnings ratio (14 times) is far below the industry average (25 times), reflecting the market’s doubt about its profitability.

Could Tan’s record of shareholder returns at Cadence and Walden influence him to take aggressive actions such as share buybacks and dividend increases?

In the short term, the positive stock price reaction to news of the appointment also represents a kind of pressure. Tan must demonstrate immediate effective actions to stabilize or fulfill Wall Street’s expectations, securing more breathing room for Intel’s future revival.

Tan’s Chinese Singaporean background may also help Intel with its production capacity layout in Southeast Asia to navigate trade barriers. Cross-cultural backgrounds often have unique value in coordinating global supply chains.

Considering Tan’s prior experience, this veteran with dual backgrounds in semiconductor technology and investment is pragmatic with rich experience in the depths of the industry chain, which are extremely scarce resources for Intel in the post-Gelsinger era.

Despite the thorny road ahead, at least at this moment, the market has chosen to place trust with real money. Whether Tan can continue writing the legend, 2025 will be a critical verification period.