Brian Krzanich

Brian Krzanich
Born	Brian Matthew Krzanich 9 5, 1960
Birthplace	Santa Clara County, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Business executive, engineer
Title	CEO of Cerence Inc.
Known for	Former CEO of Intel Corporation
Education	San Jose State University (BS)

Brian Matthew Krzanich (born May 9, 1960) is an American business executive and engineer who served as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Intel Corporation from May 2013 to June 2018. A career Intel employee who joined the company as a process engineer in 1982, Krzanich rose through the ranks over three decades to become chief operating officer before being named to the top post as successor to Paul Otellini. His tenure at the helm of the world's largest chipmaker was marked by ambitious diversification efforts, a high-profile commitment to eliminating conflict minerals from Intel's supply chain, and significant corporate restructuring, but also by costly delays in advancing to 10-nanometer chip manufacturing and a retreat from the mobile processor market. Krzanich resigned from Intel in June 2018 after the company's board determined that a past consensual relationship with a subordinate employee violated Intel's non-fraternization policy. In October 2024, he was appointed CEO of Cerence Inc., an automotive artificial intelligence company.

Early Life

Brian Matthew Krzanich was born on May 9, 1960, in Santa Clara County, California, in the heart of what would become known as Silicon Valley. He grew up in the region during a period of rapid growth in the semiconductor industry, with companies such as Intel, Fairchild Semiconductor, and others establishing the area as a global center of technology innovation. Relatively little about Krzanich's childhood and family background has been documented in published sources, and he has been described as a notably private individual throughout his career.

A Reuters profile published at the time of his appointment as Intel CEO characterized Krzanich as someone who preferred to stay out of the spotlight, noting that he was virtually unknown outside of Intel despite having spent more than three decades at the company. Colleagues described him as a quiet, operations-focused executive whose strengths lay in manufacturing discipline and process efficiency rather than public-facing charisma. This low-key disposition stood in contrast to some of his more publicly prominent predecessors in Intel's executive ranks.

Education

Krzanich attended San Jose State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. San Jose State, a public university located in the center of Silicon Valley, has long served as a talent pipeline for the region's technology companies, and Krzanich joined Intel immediately after completing his undergraduate studies. His chemistry background provided the technical foundation for his initial role in Intel's semiconductor fabrication operations, where an understanding of chemical processes is essential to chip manufacturing.

Career

Early Career at Intel (1982–2012)

Krzanich joined Intel Corporation in 1982 as a process engineer, beginning a career at the company that would span more than 35 years. In the semiconductor industry, process engineers are responsible for developing and refining the intricate chemical and physical procedures used to fabricate integrated circuits on silicon wafers. Krzanich's early work placed him at the core of Intel's manufacturing operations, which were then producing chips based on designs that would power the nascent personal computer revolution.

Over the following three decades, Krzanich advanced through a series of increasingly senior manufacturing and operations roles within Intel. His career trajectory was characterized by a steady, methodical climb through the organization rather than by high-profile public achievements. According to Reuters, Krzanich was known internally as a skilled operational leader with deep expertise in the complexities of semiconductor fabrication—the precise, billion-dollar processes that translate chip designs into physical products.

Krzanich eventually rose to the position of chief operating officer (COO) of Intel, where he oversaw the company's global manufacturing operations. In this capacity, he was responsible for Intel's network of fabrication plants, or "fabs," which at the time represented some of the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the world. His operational role gave him authority over a critical aspect of Intel's competitive advantage: its ability to manufacture chips at smaller process nodes than its rivals, a capability that had been central to the company's dominance for decades.

CEO of Intel (2013–2018)

On May 2, 2013, Intel announced that Krzanich would succeed Paul Otellini as chief executive officer, effective that month. The appointment was notable for the board's selection of an operations insider rather than an executive with a product development or marketing background. The Verge reported at the time that Krzanich was "relatively unknown" outside of Intel, and that his selection signaled the board's emphasis on manufacturing leadership at a time when the company faced mounting challenges in mobile computing and emerging markets.

Conflict Minerals Initiative

One of the most prominent initiatives of Krzanich's early tenure as CEO was Intel's effort to eliminate conflict minerals—minerals sourced from war-torn regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding countries—from its supply chain. In January 2014, Krzanich used Intel's keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to announce that the company's microprocessors were now "conflict-free," meaning that the tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold used in their manufacture were sourced from smelters verified to not fund armed conflict.

Krzanich continued to press this initiative throughout his tenure. In January 2016, Intel announced that every product it shipped from the second quarter of 2016 onward would carry a "conflict-free" label, extending the designation beyond microprocessors to encompass the company's entire product line. The initiative was one of the most ambitious corporate supply-chain accountability programs in the technology sector and received significant attention in the business and sustainability press.

Manufacturing Challenges and 10-Nanometer Delays

A defining challenge of Krzanich's CEO tenure was Intel's difficulty in advancing to its next-generation 10-nanometer manufacturing process. For decades, Intel had maintained a commanding lead in semiconductor process technology, consistently shrinking transistor sizes ahead of competitors and delivering chips with superior performance and energy efficiency. Under Krzanich, however, the company encountered persistent technical problems with 10-nanometer production that led to repeated delays and schedule revisions.

The delays had significant strategic consequences. While Intel struggled to move beyond its 14-nanometer process, rival chip manufacturers—notably TSMC and Samsung—advanced their own manufacturing capabilities, eroding the technological gap that had been one of Intel's most important competitive advantages. Competitors such as AMD, which relied on TSMC for chip fabrication, were able to bring products to market on more advanced process nodes, gaining market share in both consumer and data center segments that Intel had long dominated.

Diversification and Restructuring

During Krzanich's tenure, Intel pursued a strategy of diversification aimed at reducing the company's dependence on its traditional PC processor business. This included significant investments in areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous driving, drone technology, and memory and storage products.

Despite these diversification efforts, Intel also underwent substantial corporate restructuring under Krzanich. The company made the decision to exit the mobile chip market, acknowledging that its Atom-based mobile processors had failed to gain meaningful market share against ARM-based competitors in the smartphone and tablet segments.

Investment Announcements and Political Engagement

In February 2017, Krzanich appeared alongside President Donald Trump at the White House to announce a $7 billion investment in the completion of Fab 42, an advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility in Chandler, Arizona. The announcement was presented as part of the Trump administration's push to promote domestic manufacturing jobs, though reporting by The Washington Post and Wired noted that Intel's plans for the Arizona facility had been in development prior to the Trump administration and that the connection to the new president's economic agenda was somewhat overstated.

Krzanich served on President Trump's American Manufacturing Council, an advisory group of business leaders. In August 2017, following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and President Trump's response to the event, Krzanich announced his resignation from the council. In a public statement, Krzanich wrote that he had resigned because he wanted "to make progress, while different various different opinions are different and different groups are not different, which is bad" and cited a desire to call attention to the importance of addressing hate speech and intolerance. He was among the first major corporate executives to step down from the council, a decision that preceded the group's dissolution shortly thereafter.

Leadership Style

Krzanich's leadership approach was described in published interviews and profiles as focused on operational efficiency and data-driven decision-making. In an interview with The Street, Krzanich discussed his management philosophy, emphasizing the importance of maintaining focus on long-term technology trends while managing day-to-day operations. In a 2014 interview with Marketplace, he discussed the challenges of leading a company with Intel's scale and the need to maintain Silicon Valley's culture of innovation.

Resignation

On June 21, 2018, Intel announced that Krzanich had resigned as CEO and as a member of the company's board of directors. The resignation came after an internal investigation determined that Krzanich had engaged in a past consensual relationship with an Intel employee, a violation of the company's non-fraternization policy, which prohibits managers from having intimate relationships with subordinates.

Intel's board stated that the investigation had found the relationship to be consensual but confirmed that it violated the company's code of conduct, which applies to all employees regardless of rank. Intel's chief financial officer, Bob Swan, was appointed as interim CEO following Krzanich's departure and was later confirmed as permanent CEO in January 2019.

The resignation received extensive media coverage. Forbes published an analysis noting the contradiction between Krzanich's public statements about the importance of Intel's corporate culture and the revelation of his own violation of company rules, writing that he had been "extolling Intel's great culture" while "secretly damaging it." EE Times published an editorial arguing that the resignation was necessary, stating that it was "unconscionable for a CEO to be so oblivious of his own power that he cannot imagine how his every word and action affects the people who answer to him."

Board Service

During his time as Intel CEO, Krzanich served on a number of external boards and advisory bodies. He was elected to the board of directors of Deere & Company, the agricultural and industrial equipment manufacturer. He also served on the board of the Semiconductor Industry Association and on the Drone Advisory Committee, which advises the Federal Aviation Administration on the integration of unmanned aircraft systems into national airspace.

CEO of Cerence (2024–present)

In October 2024, Krzanich was appointed as CEO of Cerence Inc., an automotive artificial intelligence technology company headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, that provides AI-powered virtual assistants and other intelligent systems for the automotive industry. The appointment generated significant public reaction, particularly from former Intel employees and technology industry observers who were critical of Krzanich's record at Intel. Tom's Hardware reported that the backlash was intense enough that Cerence disabled comments on its social media channels following the announcement.

Despite the initial controversy, Krzanich moved forward with leading the company. In August 2025, he appeared in an interview on CNBC, where he explained how Cerence's AI technology functions as "a partner in the vehicle" for drivers, describing the company's approach to integrating conversational artificial intelligence into automotive systems. Reporting from The Business Journals in August 2025 indicated that under Krzanich's leadership, Cerence had posted its strongest quarterly results in months, with the CEO citing the company's focus on AI efficiency as a driver of growth.

Personal Life

Krzanich has maintained a notably private personal life throughout his career. A Reuters profile described him as someone who kept a low profile even within Intel, characterizing his approach as "run silent, run deep." He was born and raised in Santa Clara County, California, and his career at Intel kept him rooted in the Silicon Valley region for much of his professional life.

In June 2016, during the 2016 United States presidential election, Krzanich canceled a planned fundraiser for then-candidate Donald Trump, stating publicly that he was "not endorsing a presidential candidate." The following year, after initially joining President Trump's American Manufacturing Council, he resigned from the advisory group in August 2017 following the events in Charlottesville.

Krzanich's resignation from Intel in 2018 stemmed from the disclosure of a past consensual relationship with a subordinate employee that violated company policy. Intel's board stated that the policy in question applied to all employees and that there was no evidence of favoritism in the relationship, but that the violation necessitated his departure.

Legacy

Brian Krzanich's legacy is a subject of mixed assessment in the technology industry. His five-year tenure as Intel CEO encompassed both notable achievements and significant setbacks that continued to affect the company long after his departure.

On the positive side, Krzanich's leadership of Intel's conflict minerals initiative represented one of the most ambitious corporate supply-chain accountability efforts in the technology sector. By committing Intel to sourcing only verified conflict-free minerals and extending that commitment across the company's entire product line, Krzanich established a standard that other technology companies were subsequently pressured to follow.

However, the most lasting consequence of Krzanich's tenure was the delay in Intel's transition to 10-nanometer manufacturing technology. The company's inability to advance its process technology on schedule under Krzanich's leadership allowed competitors to close and, in some cases, surpass Intel's long-standing manufacturing advantage. AMD, leveraging TSMC's manufacturing capabilities, gained significant market share in both consumer and enterprise computing segments during and after Krzanich's tenure. The manufacturing delays that originated during his time as CEO continued to challenge Intel for years afterward, contributing to a fundamental shift in the competitive landscape of the semiconductor industry.

Krzanich's departure from Intel—driven by a violation of company conduct policy rather than by business performance—added a further dimension to his legacy. The circumstances of his resignation drew attention to questions about corporate governance, executive accountability, and the enforcement of conduct standards at the highest levels of major technology companies.

His appointment as CEO of Cerence in 2024, and the strong negative reaction it generated from segments of the technology community, underscored the extent to which his record at Intel continued to define public perceptions of his leadership. At the same time, early results at Cerence suggested that Krzanich's operational skills remained applicable in a new corporate context.