Why Intel Hired the Former CEO of Micron's Big Rival SK Hynix
Intel has just made a big-name hire, bringing in former SK Hynix CEO Seok-Hee Lee. While that might generate some speculation about a move to rival Micron Technology in memory chips, investors should probably focus on Intel's chip-packaging plans.Intel said late Thursday that it had appointed Lee as executive vice president of Intel Foundry, its chip-manufacturing business, reporting directly to CEO Lip-Bu Tan.Lee previously led South Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix. At one point Intel was a world leader in memory chips -- now arguably the hottest sector in the artificial-intelligence trade -- but gradually exited the business, and in fact agreed to sell the remainder of its flash-memory business to SK Hynix in 2020."Seok-Hee's insights will help Intel further strengthen our system integration capabilities," said Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan in a statement Thursday. "He is the right leader to build and scale this critical part of the Intel Foundry business as we prepare to ramp advanced pack