Intel’s new CEO tells customers ‘be brutally honest with us’ 

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By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – In his first remarks as Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan on Monday outlined a leaner version of the iconic American chipmaker in which he would work directly with engineers to develop new products based on feedback from the company’s customers.

Tan earlier this month took over at Intel, which once enjoyed more than 90% market share in both personal computers and data center servers but has lost out to rivals such as Nvidia in recent years.

Speaking at Intel’s “Vision” event in Las Vegas, where the company was set to discuss products with its customers, Tan said he spent his first weeks on the job meeting with customers and said the company had fallen far short of their expectations.

“Please be brutally honest with us. This is what I expect of you this week, and I believe harsh feedback is most valuable,” Tan said.

Reuters has previously reported that Tan plans to eliminate what he views as a slow-moving and bloated middle management layer.

On Monday, Tan repeatedly promised to give more power to Intel’s engineers, saying that new ideas have not had “room to develop and grow” at Intel in recent years.

“We’re going to really drive some new ideas, giving engineers freedom to innovate from within,” Tan said. “My weekend is usually packed with a lot of engineers and architects. They have some brilliant ideas, they want to change the world, and that’s where I get excited to work closely with them.”

Tan said his primary focus will be on recruiting and keeping engineers.

“We lost quite a bit of talent. That’s my top priority, to recruit some of the best talent in the industry to come back and then to rejoin or join Intel,” Tan said.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis and Max Cherney in San Francisco; Editing by Bill Berkrot)