Intel played down Talwalkar's departure, preferring to focus more on Gelsigner's elevated role. The erstwhile DEG co-chair is off to rival chip maker LSI Logic where he is to take up the president and CEO post.
Talkwalker's defection marks the fifth time a senior Intel staffer has quit the company in the last 12 months. A year ago, server chief Mike Fister left to join Cadence, as did his server processor marketing head, Ajay Malhotra, the following September. The same month Thomas Lacey, VP of Intel's Communications Group and head of the chip maker's Flash division joined International DisplayWorks. Joint marketing chief Jason Chen resigned from Intel earlier this year for "family reasons" - only to turn up a month or so later at foundry TSMC.