Intel said on Tuesday that its longstanding board chair Frank Yeary would be retiring. Current Intel board member and veteran chip executive Craig Barratt will succeed Yeary as chair after the company’s annual shareholder meeting in May.
This is one of the numerous changes that came to be for the once-dominant U.S. chipmaker since Lip-Bu Tan became CEO. Last year, three board members announced their retirement several weeks after Tan took the helm.
Since becoming CEO, Tan has implemented a plan to turn around the company that re-embraces manufacturing and reduces corporate complexity through middle-management job cuts, according to Reuters.
Yeary in a statement praised the company’s progress on reviving its manufacturing technology and noted that he and the board selected Tan last year. He has been on the board since 2009, and was chair since 2023. He has presided over four CEO transitions and has dealt with the decline of Intel’s manufacturing and the rise of TSMC.
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“I think his departure was long overdue,” Seaport Securities analyst Jay Goldberg said. “Intel has made a lot of bad decisions” while Yeary has been on the board, he said.
Three former executives told Reuters that replacing Yeary, an investor and corporate adviser, with a seasoned semiconductor executive was a welcome move. Intel said its board, which has over the years included executives from various fields, including medical devices and aerospace aside from financiers, is seeking to remake itself.
“The board has been intentional in its refreshment efforts, adding directors with skills and backgrounds to map to the future opportunities and challenges the company faces, as well as the experience and perspectives to support Intel’s evolving strategy and long-term stockholder interests,” the company said in its press release announcing Yeary’s departure.
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Barratt has previously worked for Qualcomm and briefly at Intel. He joined the Intel board in 2025. Barratt is not related to previous Intel CEO Craig Barrett.
“Lip-Bu’s biggest challenge is changing Intel’s culture and professionalizing the board will help that a lot,” Goldberg, the analyst, said, referring to Barratt’s appointment as chair.
Tan has made big changes to the chipmaker ever since he was appointed as chair. Last year, Intel cut roughly 20% of its workforce as Tan reshaped the company’s strategy around artificial intelligence.
Tan also said he would continue to operate Intel’s factories and pursue new customers for its next-generation manufacturing tech called 14A.