Could Thomas Caulfield lead Intel or a merged Intel-GloFo?

Business news | February 11, 2025

By Peter Clarke

Speculation has started to circulate that Thomas Caulfield, CEO of Globalfoundries Inc., could be set to replace Pat Gelsinger as permanent CEO of struggling chip giant Intel.

The recent announcement of an executive reshuffle at Globalfoundries has prompted the speculation but there are both pro and contra indicators. This has led observers to question whether Caulfield may be destined to be executive chair of a company formed by a merger between Intel and Globalfoundries.

The changes just announced include Caulfield from CEO to executive chairman, and Tim Breen from COO to CEO and these come into effect on April 28.

CEO, board changes at GlobalFoundries

The reshuffle at GlobalFoundries was not expected, prompting observers to re-examine Caulfield’s credentials for the top job at Intel, which has been operating under interim co-CEOs since Gelsinger’s departure in December 2024.

Gelsinger steps down at Intel

Caulfield has been with Globalfoundries for 10 years and has served as its CEO for the last seven years. At the beginning of his tenure in the top job Caulfield made the strategic decision to focus on specialty chips rather than trying to compete with Intel, TSMC, and Samsung at the leading edge of chip manufacturing. This move ultimately proved successful, as GlobalFoundries became profitable and went public in 2021.

Caulfield about 65 years old so a move to executive chair of GlobalFoundries after seven years could makes sense. Although it might suggest the he would not have the bandwidth to take on the CEO role at Intel as well. And if the two companies were independent this could throw up conflicts of interest. In addition, Caulfield’s industry experience is in chip manufacturing and he has not been responsible for a product company, which is what Intel is predominantly.

This has led to speculation that a corporate merger could be in planning with Caulfield as executive chair of the combined entity and Michelle Johnston Holthaus as CEO of the product business with Breen taking responsibility for merging GlobalFoundries with Intel Foundry and driving a customer-oriented culture there.

The merger is a good fit as Intel’s R&D under Gelsinger has striven to get the company back to the leading edge with its 18A manufacturing node while Globalfoundries has serviced customers behind the leading-edge but would benefit from a roadmap to more advanced geometries.

Breen has been with GlobalFoundries since 2018. Before joining the company he was a member of the executive team at Mubadala Investment Company, which is the majority owner of the stock-exchanged listed GlobalFoundries.

Observers at a Reddit stream have pointed that the GlobalFoundries announcement came two days after an unusual purchase of 8,913,000 shares in Intel at a price of US$19.29. The Reddit stream said this is close to the US$172 million stock incentive offered to Pat Gelsinger when he took on the Intel CEO job in 2021.

An Intel-Globalfoundries merger would almost certainly be subject to regulatory approval around the world, something that, in the increasingly hostile geopolitical climate, the Chinese authorities might decline to provide. However, in the same geopolitical spirit, the US authorities, Intel and GlobalFoundries might opt to push ahead regardless.

Intel had previously tried to acquire Tower Semiconductor to boost its foundry business and that deal foundered on a lack of approval from the Chinese anti-trust regulator. In that case the companies have remained separate but struck up a major cooperation with Intel agreeing to provide manufacturing capacity to Tower.

Expecting an absence of support for a merger Intel might appoint Caulfield as CEO while he remains executive chair at Globalfoundries and look to him to serve as the bridge between two much more closely aligned companies going forward.