Intel taps Qualcomm veteran to lead PC and physical AI business

Intel reached outside its own ranks and into Qualcomm’s device-hardware playbook as it handed Alex Katouzian control of the Client Computing and Physical AI Group, a move that puts one of the industry’s most watched PC businesses under a veteran of mobile computing. The company said Katouzian will join in May as executive vice president and general manager, with responsibility for client computing, AI PCs, AI inference at the edge, robotics, autonomous machines and other AI devices.

The appointment is more than a personnel change. It is a window into Intel’s search for a clear strategic identity at a time when the company is trying to defend the PC franchise that built it while also proving it can compete in the next wave of AI hardware. Intel said the new structure aligns its traditional client business with physical AI systems, a broad category that includes machines and devices that sense and act in the real world. Chief executive Lip-Bu Tan framed the shift as part of Intel’s effort to reimagine client computing beyond the traditional PC.

Katouzian’s background helps explain why Intel wanted him. Qualcomm said he joined the company in 2002 and has spent 35 years in wireless and multimedia semiconductors, most recently leading the Mobile, Compute and XR business unit. That mix of handset, laptop and extended-reality experience gives Intel a leader who has worked across the device classes now converging around AI at the edge, where chips must balance power, performance and connectivity in products that are always on and increasingly autonomous.

Intel also elevated Pushkar Ranade to permanent chief technology officer, after he had been serving in an interim role. Ranade will continue as Tan’s chief of staff, and both executives report directly to the CEO. Intel said Ranade has more than 17 years at the company across two tenures and has worked on transistor process integration for its 65nm, 45nm and 22nm nodes, along with technology strategy that now spans quantum computing, neuromorphic computing, photonics and novel materials.

The leadership shuffle comes as Intel tries to steady a business under pressure. The company reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $13.6 billion and forecast second-quarter revenue of $13.8 billion to $14.8 billion, after full-year 2025 revenue of $52.9 billion. Intel has also been leaning hard into AI PCs, saying in its CES 2026 materials that Core Ultra Series 3 would be its most broadly adopted AI PC platform ever delivered. The message behind Katouzian’s hiring is clear: Intel is still betting that the next fight will not be won in data centers alone, but in the devices people carry, use and increasingly trust to act on their behalf.