Intel veteran led tech giant in pivotal years
Paul S. Otellini, who led microprocessing giant Intel Corp. even as the computer world began shifting away from desktops and laptops, died in his sleep, the company said Tuesday. He was 66.
Mr. Otellini, who died Monday, joined the Santa Clara company in 1974 and became its fifth CEO in 2005. He retired in 2013.
“We are deeply saddened by Paul’s passing,” Intel CEO Brian Krzanich said in a statement. “He was the relentless voice of the customer in a sea of engineers, and he taught us that we only win when we put the customer first.”
Intel noted that the company generated more revenue during his eight-year tenure than during its previous 45 years: The year before he became CEO, sales were $34 billion; the number grew to $53 billion in 2012.
Mr. Otellini made a name for himself when he oversaw the introduction of Intel’s Pentium processor in 1993. Shortly after he took over for former CEO Craig Barrett, he presided over another historic change when he stepped onto a Moscone West Convention Center stage and embraced the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs as the two former rivals announced what had once seemed an unlikely alliance.
Apple had agreed to dump its longtime partners Motorola and IBM and instead use Intel microprocessors inside Macintosh computers.
“We’re so happy the world’s most innovative computer company and the world’s most innovative chip company have finally teamed up,” Mr. Otellini told the crowd. “I think this brings together the skills and the engineering excellence of two great companies.”
But two years later, Apple introduced the iPhone, which set in motion a shift toward mobile devices and away from the desktop and laptop computers that fed the Intel-dominated microprocessor market for decades.
Mr. Otellini helped Intel rebound from a 42 percent drop in profit in 2006 after losing share in the server market to Advanced Micro Devices. The company posted record profit and sales for two years starting in 2010.
Mr. Otellini was born in San Francisco on Oct. 12, 1950. He attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory, and received an economics degree from the University of San Francisco and an MBA from UC Berkeley. He is survived by his wife, Sandy; son, Patrick; and daughter, Alexis.