A top Intel engineer and 'rock star chip architect' has resigned for 'personal reasons' just 2 years after joining

• Jim Keller, the renowned chip engineer who joined Intel from Tesla two years ago, has resigned "due to personal reasons," the company said Thursday.
• Keller, who is also known for his work at AMD and Apple, had led the Intel engineering group that was developing microprocessors.
• He was one of three outsiders Intel hired recently as it eyed new opportunities beyond its core PC and server market.

Jim Keller, the acclaimed chip engineer Intel hired from Tesla two years ago, has resigned "due to personal reasons," the tech giant said Thursday.

Keller joined Intel in 2018 to lead the engineering group that was developing new microprocessors as part of the company's bid to go beyond its core PC and server business.

Keller, a veteran of Apple and AMD who VentureBeat described as a "rock star chip architect," was one of three outsiders Intel hired in recent years as it's eyed opportunities in new markets. The other two engineers Intel recruited were Murthy Renduchintala, who quit as copresident of Qualcomm in 2015 to become Intel's chief engineering officer, and Raja Koduri, who joined from AMD in 2017 and is now leading Intel's high-performance graphic chips team.

Intel has had to adapt to a changing market. The market for PCs — an area it has dominated for decades — is shrinking. The company is a major player in the market for server chips but is facing stiff competition from its rivals AMD and Nvidia. Under CEO Bob Swan, Intel is eyeing new emerging markets, including high-performance computing, the cloud, autonomous cars, artificial intelligence, graphics, and networking.

When he spoke with Business Insider last year, he described a challenging job that was reaping progress.

"The company over the last number of years has pivoted to have a lot more market segments, a lot more designs in those market segments," Keller said. "That will generate a lot more chips, a very large amount of IP."

Intel said Keller would stay on for six months to help with the transition of his replacement. The company also announced other changes to its engineering team, including naming Sundari Mitra as head of its intellectual property engineering team.

Got a tip about Intel or another tech company? Contact this reporter via email at bpimentel@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @benpimentel, or send him a secure message through Signal at (510) 731-8429. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Claim your 20% discount on an annual subscription to BI Prime by clicking here.