Michelle Johnston Holthaus [pictured], who has been kicking around Chipzilla for 30 years, found herself out on her ear despite only sitting in the CEO of products chair since late 2024. She briefly shared the big chair as co-CEO after Pat Gelsinger scarpered, but it seems the new regime didn't fancy her sticking around in a power role.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said: "Throughout her incredible career, Michelle has transformed major businesses, built high-performing teams and worked to delight our customers. She has made a lasting impact on our company and inspired so many of us with her leadership. We are grateful for all Michelle has given Intel and wish her the best."

Translated out of corporate-speak, that's thanks and goodbye. She’ll now float around in an advisory role, which is usually code for "we don't want you doing anything important anymore".

Tan is reportedly flattening Chipzilla’s leadership like a poorly made soufflé, with more decisions flowing straight from his desk. He’s wasting no time importing new blood from outside, including some familiar faces from his previous gig at Cadence.

Among the fresh recruits is Srinivasan Iyengar, who started in June and is now running a brand-new central engineering division. This lot will be in charge of building a custom silicon business, shifting Chipzilla from making chips to designing them for third parties. That could see them try to elbow into turf currently owned by Broadcom and Marvell.

Iyengar’s shiny new role has him reporting directly to Tan, which should make it clear who’s running the show now. The firm nabbed Kevork Kechichian, a veteran of Arm, NXP and Qualcomm, to head up Chipzilla’s datacentre unit.