Stefan Mileschin

Chipzilla has decided that there is no hurry getting itself a nice shiny new CEO, according to the strokers of beards and people in the know at analyst outfit Piper Jaffray.

Paul Otellini is being put out to pasture in mid-May and the debate has so far been about if he is to be replaced by an insider or an outsider.

But Piper Jaffray believes the decision on a new chief has been delayed, something it thinks is jolly silly.

In a research note, Piper Jaffray analyst Gus Richard wrote that Intel needs a new CEO fast to take it beyond the traditional PC market and boldly go where no chip maker has gone before.

Part of the problem is not that the chipmaker can’t find anyone to rule them but they have some rather good candidates and cannot decide.

Richard claims that Intel has narrowed down CEO candidates to two internal and one external, but the final decision appears to be slipping.

According to CNET, Intel has narrowed the search to Brian Krzanich, Intel executive vice president and chief operating officer, Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group and chief product officer of Intel, and Sanjay Jha, former CEO of Motorola Mobility.

Richard wishes that the Intel airheads would hurry up and decide because the outfit needs to make some major decisions about future businesses, such as contract manufacturing.

Chipzilla said that it wants to have a replacement by the time CEO Paul Otellini retires in mid-May, meaning the company could be in limbo for two months and the pole is getting lower all the time.

Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy insists that the process is under way and there are no glitches. So far no white smoke has been seen on the roof of Intel HQ.

Richard points out that without a CEO, Intel is a rudderless ship driven more by external forces than internal decisions.

Chipzilla needs to work out fast if the company will licence ARM and improve its ability to be a foundry.

Any major decision like this will have to wait for a new CEO. The fact that the decision looks to be delayed is not a positive sign.

Some analysts, and the media, are trying to talk up Intel as a chip foundry and seem desperate, against all evidence, that it should be selling chips to Apple.

http://news.techeye.net/business/int...ting-a-new-ceo