The chip industry has apparently decided that Spring really is a time for renewal. Any day now, Intel’s (INTC) CEO Paul Otellini will name his successor. And, on Tuesday, British chip design company ARM (ARM) revealed that its CEO Warren East will retire (PDF) and hand the company over to current president Simon Segars. Perhaps, Otellini and East will find an opportunity in the months ahead to share a beer and talk about the good times they had trying to destroy each other.
It makes sense in many ways for both companies to perform a gut check. Intel finally appears on the verge of giving all the ARM chip makers—Qualcomm (QCOM), Nvidia (NVDA), Samsung, Apple (AAPL)—a run in the mobile part of the market. That means all of these companies will face Intel’s manufacturing prowess and its relentless march toward better, cheaper chips. Meanwhile, the ARM gang has intentions of attacking Intel’s stronghold in the data center with new types of super low-power server chips aimed at companies like Facebook (FB) and Amazon.com (AMZN) that buy tens of thousands of the machines. Intel’s server chips sold under the Xeon brand represent some of its most profitable products, and the chip maker will do all it can to keep ARM designs at bay.
East arrived at ARM, based in Cambridge, in 1994 and took over as CEO in 2001. During his time as CEO, ARM produced mobile chip designs that have been picked up and licensed by every major cellphone, tablet, and gadget maker. ARM’s low-power technology has become the standard of the device revolution. It’s an inspiring track record of success.
To be frank, though, ARM could well benefit from a new, energized public face as its next battles begin. I’ve met East a couple of times and he’s an affable, obviously smart man but not exactly a whirlwind of personality. One gets the feeling that as it goes up against Intel’s marketing and sales whizzes, ARM will need some added charisma and energy.
Is Segars that guy? We’ll see. Like East, he’s a 20-year ARM veteran. During his run at the company, Segars has held engineering, sales, and business development roles. Segars takes over from East on July 1.
Give ARM credit for having such a smooth succession plan. Over at Intel, Otellini announced his pending retirement without tapping a successor. The company has since been weighing internal and external candidates. It’s a weird situation for a company that has historically prided itself on grooming leaders that stick around for a long time.
