Intel has appointed former SK hynix and SK On CEO Lee Seok-hee as a senior vice president in its foundry business, marking a strategic move to strengthen its advanced semiconductor packaging capabilities. The announcement was made on Thursday, as reported by The Korea Herald.
Lee's Role at Intel Foundry
Lee will oversee advanced packaging, system integration, back-end technology development, and back-end manufacturing at Intel Foundry. He will report directly to CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Intel Foundry is establishing advanced packaging as a focused business with dedicated leadership, a direction underscored by Lee's appointment to strengthen the division, the company explained.
CEO Tan's Statement
"Seok-Hee brings deep expertise in leading complex, high-scale technology and manufacturing organizations, along with a strong track record of operational execution," Tan said in a statement. "Seok-Hee's insights will help Intel further strengthen our system integration capabilities, allowing us to tightly couple leading-edge logic, memory, networking and other components to build high-performance computing systems for Intel Foundry customers."
Tan added: "He is the right leader to build and scale this critical part of the Intel Foundry business as we prepare to ramp advanced packaging technologies, including EMIB-T and HBI, to high volume for customers and partners."
Lee's Perspective
Lee expressed enthusiasm about the opportunity, stating that advanced packaging is a key growth area for the semiconductor industry. "Intel is uniquely positioned to lead in advanced packaging as demand for system-level integration accelerates across AI and high-performance computing," Lee said. "I'm excited to return home and to join the Intel team as we help advance the company's technology leadership, manufacturing capabilities, and customer commitments in this critical area."
Lee's Background
Lee stepped down as chief executive of SK On at the end of May after 2 1/2 years in the role. Prior to joining the battery maker, he served as chief executive of SK hynix, one of the world's largest memory chip manufacturers. At SK hynix, he played an instrumental role in developing and advancing the company's high-bandwidth memory, a critical component in powering artificial intelligence.
Lee earned a bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering from Seoul National University and a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University. He also worked at Intel as an engineer from 2000 to 2010 before taking on leadership roles in South Korea.
Strategic Context
The management changes come as Intel seeks to rebuild its foundry business and compete with leading contract chipmakers by strengthening its manufacturing and advanced packaging capabilities, key differentiators in next-generation AI systems. Under the new structure, Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president of Intel Foundry, will continue to report to Tan, focusing on front-end technology development and accelerating the ramp of 18A and 14A nodes and future technology.
