Intel hires former SK hynix chief Seok-Hee Lee to lead advanced packaging push for AI chips

Intel hires former SK hynix chief Seok-Hee Lee to lead Intel Foundry advanced packaging -- company establishing section as 'focused business with dedicated leadership'

Intel has appointed Seok-Hee Lee, the former chief executive of memory maker SK hynix and battery maker SK On, as executive vice president of Intel Foundry, handing the semiconductor veteran control of advanced packaging, system integration, and all back-end technology development and manufacturing. Lee reports directly to CEO Lip-Bu Tan, and his arrival comes with a structural change at the foundry: Intel is splitting advanced packaging out as a dedicated business, with Naga Chandrasekaran narrowing his focus to front-end work on the Intel 18A and 14A nodes. Longtime executive Navid Shahriari is retiring after 37 years, the company announced. Lee spent roughly a decade at Intel earlier in his career before holding leadership roles across the Korean chip industry, including the top job at SK hynix, one of the world's two largest suppliers of high-bandwidth memory. Tan credited Lee with "deep expertise in leading complex, high-scale technology and manufacturing organizations," and said the hire would help Intel "tightly couple leading-edge logic, memory, networking, and other components" for foundry customers. Putting a former memory chief over packaging aligns with where Intel's back-end ambitions are. HBM stacks sit alongside logic dies inside the same package on every modern AI accelerator, and it's joining those two components together that Lee now oversees. Last month, it was reported that SK hynix was testing Intel's EMIB packaging for HBM integration, sending both companies' shares higher. Tan named EMIB-T and HBI as the technologies Intel intends to ramp to high volume under Lee. EMIB-T adds through-silicon vias to Intel's embedded bridge for higher power delivery and HBM4-class bandwidth, and is rolling out in production fabs this year. Intel has positioned the EMIB family against TSMC's CoWoS, whose lines have been oversubscribed for more than two years, and is reportedly in talks with Google and Amazon to package their custom AI chips. It goes without saying, then, that the stakes for the unit Lee's inheriting are huge. Intel Foundry lost $10.3 billion on $17.8 billion of revenue in 2025, and CFO David Zinsner has said packaging revenue could exceed $1 billion at gross margins near 40%, with prepaid hyperscaler commitments reaching into the billions. Korean trade press, including the Seoul Economic Daily, has spun Lee's appointment around Intel's difficulty securing yields on its proprietary back-end processes, the kind of high-volume manufacturing problem he managed for decades in memory. The hire follows Intel's April recruitment of Samsung foundry veteran Shawn Han. Lee resigned from SK On on May 28th, citing health reasons, according to Korean outlets, only to return to the industry three weeks later. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

Intel hires former SK hynix chief Lee Seok-hee to lead advanced packaging

Intel has appointed former SK hynix and SK On CEO Lee Seok-hee as a senior vice president in its foundry business. Lee will lead advanced packaging and system integration efforts, a crucial area for Intel's push into next-generation AI systems. His extensive experience in high-scale technology and manufacturing is expected to bolster Intel's capabilities and customer commitments in this vital segment of the semiconductor industry. Intel has appointed former CEO of SK hynix and SK On Lee Seok-hee as a senior vice president in its foundry business, amid the US chipmaker's push into advanced semiconductor packaging. According to a report by The Korea Herald, Intel announced Thursday that Lee will oversee advanced packaging, system integration, back-end technology development and back-end manufacturing at Intel Foundry. He will report directly to CEO Lip-Bu Tan. Intel Foundry is establishing advanced packaging as a focused business with dedicated leadership, a direction underscored by Lee's appointment to strengthen the division, the company explained. "Seok-Hee brings deep expertise in leading complex, high-scale technology and manufacturing organizations, along with a strong track record of operational execution," Tan said in a statement, as per The Korea Herald. "Seok-Hee's insights will help Intel further strengthen our system integration capabilities, allowing us to tightly couple leading-edge logic, memory, networking and other components to build high-performance computing systems for Intel Foundry customers." "He is the right leader to build and scale this critical part of the Intel Foundry business as we prepare to ramp advanced packaging technologies, including EMIB-T and HBI, to high volume for customers and partners," Tan added. Lee said he sees advanced packaging as a key growth area for the semiconductor industry. "Intel is uniquely positioned to lead in advanced packaging as demand for system-level integration accelerates across AI and high-performance computing," Lee said. "I'm excited to return home and to join the Intel team as we help advance the company's technology leadership, manufacturing capabilities, and customer commitments in this critical area." Lee stepped down as chief executive of SK On at the end of May after 2 1/2 years in the role. Prior to joining the battery maker, he served as chief executive of SK hynix, one of the world's largest memory chip manufacturers, where he played an instrumental role in developing and advancing the company's high-bandwidth memory, a critical component in powering artificial intelligence. Lee earned a bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering from Seoul National University and a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University. He also worked at Intel as an engineer from 2000 to 2010 before taking on leadership roles in South Korea. The management changes come as Intel seeks to rebuild its foundry business and compete with leading contract chipmakers by strengthening its manufacturing and advanced packaging capabilities, key differentiators in next-generation AI systems. Under the new structure, Naga Chandrasekaran, executive vice president of Intel Foundry, will continue to report to Tan, focusing on front-end technology development and accelerating the ramp of 18A and 14A nodes and future technology.

Intel Appoints Former SK Hynix CEO Seok-Hee Lee to Lead Foundry Expansion

"Seok-Hee brings deep expertise in leading complex, high-scale technology and manufacturing organizations, along with a strong track record of operational execution," Tan said in a statement. The move reflects Intel's growing focus on advanced packaging as a critical component of next-generation computing systems, particularly for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing applications. "Seok-Hee's insights will help Intel further strengthen our system integration capabilities, allowing us to tightly couple leading-edge logic, memory, networking, and other components to build high-performance computing systems for Intel Foundry customers," Tan added. "He is the right leader to build and scale this critical part of the as we prepare to ramp advanced packaging technologies, including EMIB-T and HBI, to high volume for customers and partners," Tan said. Meanwhile, Naga Chandrasekaran will continue leading front-end technology development and manufacturing efforts, including the ramp-up of Intel's 18A and 14A process technologies. He will also retain responsibility for customer-facing and business enablement functions within Intel Foundry.