Andy Grove’s days as head of Intel Corp are numbered, as the company says its board of directors plans to elect president and chief operating officer Craig Barrett as the company’s next chief executive officer. The board will make Barrett’s appointment official at it scheduled meeting on May 20, ending Grove’s 11- year run as the boss. Grove, who says he wants to focus more time on strategic issues concerning the company and the semiconductor industry in general, will remain in his position as chairman. Barrett has been the heir apparent at The Santa Clara, California chipmaking giant for a few years (CI No 3,166). Grove says he’s been working with Barrett on transition-related issues and he expects it to go smoothly. At a regularly scheduled board meeting on Wednesday, Grove simply announced that he felt now was the time to pass the baton. An Intel spokesperson says that Barrett has been in training for the job since the 90s began. He’s gained a reputation for being a tireless worker who keeps a close eye on every aspect of operations, and was described by the spokesperson as calm but very competitive – he wants to win. Barrett joined Intel in 1974, made vice president in 1984, executive VP in 1990 and became the company’s fourth president last year. He takes the reins at Intel at a time when the company faces decreasing margins amid a boom in sales of low-end PCs. Barrett plans to run the company from his home base of Phoenix, Arizona – where the company has engineering facilities, two wafer fabs and about 4,000 employees – rather than move to Santa Clara. In a separate announcement, Intel said it was boosting its stock buyback program by 100 million shares. The increase takes the total number of shares the company can buy back to 129.8m. Intel says it’s repurchased 235.4 million shares since initiation of the program. Intel shares rose $2.125 to close at $78.1875 on Thursday.
