Lip-Bu Tan

Lip-Bu Tan was born in 1959 in Muar, Johor, Malaysia, and grew up in Singapore.⁠[1][2]

In 1978, at age 19, Tan graduated in physics from Nanyang University in Singapore (IntelIntelIntel is a semiconductor company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, founded by Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore in 1968; it introduced the 4004 microprocessor in 1971, its x86 processors have long powered personal computers, it has pursued a foundry strategy since 2021, and Lip-Bu Tan has been its chief executive officer since 2025.Open the full entry’s official biography lists a bachelor’s degree in physics from Nanyang Technological University), and in 1981 he earned a master’s degree in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; he also holds an MBA from the University of San Francisco.⁠[2][1][3]

In 1987, Tan founded the venture capital firm Walden International, which he chairs; he is also a founding managing partner of Celesta Capital and Walden Catalyst Ventures.⁠[3][1]

Tan served as a director of Flextronics International (2003–2012), Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. China (AMEC) (2005–2020), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (2015–2021) and SoftBank GroupSoftBank GroupSoftBank Group (SoftBank Group Corp.) is an investment holding company headquartered in Tokyo, founded by Masayoshi Son in 1981. Starting out as a distributor of personal computer software, it moved into the internet, broadband and mobile communications, and has since become an investment group centered on AI-related assets such as Arm, the SoftBank Vision Funds and OpenAI.Open the full entry (2020–2022); he joined the board of Cadence Design Systems in 2004.⁠[3]

In January 2009, Tan became chief executive officer of Cadence Design Systems, serving until 2021 and also as president from 2009 to 2017; from December 2021 to May 2023 he was Cadence’s executive chair, leaving its board in 2023.⁠[2][3][4]

Tan received the Global Semiconductor Alliance’s 2016 Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award, the Semiconductor Industry Association’s 2022 Robert N. Noyce Award and imec’s 2023 Lifetime of Innovation Award.⁠[3][2]

In September 2022, Tan joined Intel’s board of directors, stepping down in August 2024.⁠[3][4][1]

On March 12, 2025, Intel announced Tan’s appointment as chief executive officer, effective March 18, succeeding interim co-CEOs David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus; he also rejoined the board.⁠[4]

During Tan’s tenure, Intel signed a $2 billion equity investment agreement with SoftBank Group on August 18, 2025, reached an agreement with the U.S. government for an equity investment of about $8.9 billion on August 22, and on September 18 NVIDIA announced a $5 billion investment in Intel common stock along with a product collaboration.⁠[5][6][7]

On October 12, 2026, Tan shared a panel with Broadcom chief executive officer Hock Tan at the DBSDBSDBS is a Singapore-headquartered financial services group that began as the Development Bank of Singapore, founded in 1968; its 1998 acquisition of POSB made it Singapore’s largest retail bank, it has a presence in 19 markets, and it has been led by chief executive officer Tan Su Shan since March 2025.Open the full entry Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore on where the next wave of AI growth would come from. He said the challenge ahead was capital and the cost of capital, and that investors want to see a return on investment.⁠[8][9]

He said he saw no significant slowdown in the next two to three years, but that longer-term growth depends on whether businesses can use AI to gain efficiency and measurable economic benefits; he also said Chinese frontier models such as DeepSeek, Kimi and GLM are “good enough.” Hock Tan, on the same panel, said capital might be the biggest constraint and expected wafer shortages to ease by 2028 or 2029.⁠[8][9]

As of October 2026, Tan is chief executive officer of Intel, chairman of Credo Technology Group and a director of Schneider ElectricSchneider ElectricSchneider Electric is an energy technology company headquartered in Rueil-Malmaison, France, with operations in energy management, industrial automation, industrial software and services. Its history dates to the Schneider brothers’ takeover of the Le Creusot foundry in 1836 and a subsequent shift from heavy industry to electrical and digital businesses. On October 5, 2026, it agreed to acquire PTC in cash for approximately $22.6 billion in equity value and $23.7 billion in enterprise value, with closing expected in the third quarter of 2027 subject to approvals and other conditions.Open the full entry, and serves on academic bodies including Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It grew out of the Carnegie Technical Schools, founded with funding from Andrew Carnegie in 1900, which were renamed the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1912 and took the present name after merging with the Mellon Institute in 1967. The university is known for computer science, robotics, engineering, and the arts, and has campuses in Qatar, Silicon Valley, and Rwanda. As of September 2025, it enrolled 16,582 students. Its current president is Farnam Jahanian. On September 30, 2026, the university announced a $3 billion gift from Ken Griffin and plans to build a new campus in Miami.Open the full entry’s board of trustees and the University of California, Berkeley’s Engineering Advisory Board.⁠[3]

Intel: Official website: https://www.intel.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[3]

Intel official biography: Public profile: https://intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/biographies/lip-bu-tan.html (opens in a new window)⁠[3]