Dr. Venkata “Murthy” Renduchintala, the former co-president of Qualcomm's main chip unit, just left the company to join rival chipmaker Intel.
At Intel, Renduchintala will be the president of the Client and Internet of Things (IoT) Businesses and Systems Architecture Group, a newly created unit that combines a lot of units: Platform Engineering, Client Computing, IoT, Software and Services, and Design & Technology Solutions groups.
It's worth noting the Client Computing Group, which includes both the PC and mobile chips, and is Intel's largest revenue generator, is also looped under this group.
Intel has historically made most of its money by providing chips for PCs, but with the shrinking PC market, it's been struggling to grow that part of the business. Instead, it's been focusing on data center chips and IoT chips to drive growth.
The announcement was made just a day after Qualcomm promoted the other co-president Cristiano Amon as its executive VP, while making Renduchintala's departure official for the first time.
According to Qualcomm, the move wasn't a sudden departure at all. In a statement sent to Business Insider, it said Renduchintala was given a few months to consider his next move. Here's what Qualcomm said:
"A few months ago we made the decision to move away from a co-president leadership structure for QCT. Cristiano Amon was the clear choice as President of the chipset business. We made the decision to enhance the operation of QCT by having a single decision maker who has an exceptional track record of executing and has the confidence of the team and our customers. We are confident in Cristiano's leadership as we capitalize on the opportunities ahead. Murthy was offered another role within Qualcomm, but he chose to leave the company instead."
Still, the announcement drew some question marks, considering Renduchintala's contribution to Qualcomm over tha last 10 years. He's considered to be one of the biggest names in the industry, having led Qualcomm's CDMA Technologies unit, but Qualcomm didn't have any mention of his work in yesterday's press release, only saying, "Murthy Renduchintala, who has served as QCT co-president for the past three years, will be leaving Qualcomm."
