Business planner Pann to lead Intel Foundry Services

Business news | March 23, 2023

By Peter Clarke

foundry semiconductor wafer

Intel has appointed Stuart Pann as senior vice president and general manager of Intel Foundry Services (IFS).

Pann was previously chief business transformation officer and general manager of Intel’s Corporate Planning Group. He replaces Randhir Thakur, the inaugural general manager of Intel Foundry Services, who stepped down from the role in November 2022 and will depart Intel at the end of March (see Intel’s foundry boss is set to move on).

Pann will report to CEO Pat Gelsinger and run the foundry business – which also includes packaging, chiplet standards and software – with capacity on offer in the US and Europe.

“With deep expertise in capital and capacity strategies, supply chain management, and sales and operations planning across internal and external manufacturing, Stuart is an ideal leader to accelerate this momentum and drive long-term growth for IFS,” said Gelsinger, in a statement.

Returnee

Pann started his career at Intel and returned to the company in 2021, having previously served as chief supply chain officer and chief information officer at Hewlett Packard for six years. Pann holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

There had been speculation that – following a successful acquisition of the foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd. by Intel – the top job at IFS would go Tower’s CEO Russell Ellwanger and that this prospect had prompted Thakur’s resignation.

However, the merger of Tower and Intel, which had been due to complete in 1Q23, is subject to regulatory approval. The deal appears to be blighted by inactivity at the Chinese anti-trust authority.