Intel Chairman Barrett to Retire in May

Intel said Friday that Chairman Craig Barrett, the former academic credited with building the company into the world's foremost chip maker, will retire in May after 35 years with Intel.

Barrett, to be replaced as nonexecutive chairman by independent director Jane Shaw, is leaving the chip powerhouse at a time Silicon Valley is struggling through potentially one of its worst-ever crises, with companies from Microsoft to Seagate Technology laying off thousands to try to offset crumbling corporate and consumer spending.

Intel, like much of the technology sector, is feeling the pain of the global economic slowdown and waning demand for PCs.

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It just announced plans to cut up to 6,000 jobs, and posted a 23 decline in revenue in its most recent quarter.

Barrett, who turns 70 this year, served as Intel's chief executive from 1998 through 2005, until current CEO Paul Otellini took over, and became chairman in 2005. Intel did not say what Barrett planned to do upon retirement.

Shares in Intel climbed over 4 percent as better-than-expected earnings from Google on Thursday fueled tech-sector gains.

"Intel became the world's largest and most successful semiconductor company in 1992 and has maintained that position ever since," Barrett said in a statement on Friday.

Barrett built Intel into one of the technology sector's powerhouses and a global household name. It remains the world's largest maker of microprocessors used in personal computers, outshining rival Advanced Micro Devices in worldwide market share.

Otellini's succession was announced in November 2004. Intel CEOs at the time were required to step down at 65.

Barrett joined the Santa Clara, California-based company in 1974 as a technology development manager. A former Stanford University college professor, Barrett was known for formulating Intel's "copy exactly" strategy, meaning every chip-making plant was a mirror reflection of every other one.

Shaw joined the Intel board in 1993. She retired in 2005 as chairman and CEO of Aerogen, which developed drug-device aerosol products.

Barrett is active in philanthropic causes, and he chairs the U.N. Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technology and Development.

"Technology can be used in tremendous ways to impact people's lives on the ground," Barrett told an audience during his keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month.

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