Ann Kelleher was appointed an executive vice-president of Intel in 2021, the first time an Irish person had held such a senior role
Ann Kelleher, from Macroom in Co Cork, joined Intel in 1996 and is now the company's executive vice-president general manager, technology development. Photograph: Alan BetsonCork’s Ann Kelleher is sharing the philosophy that has helped propel her to the senior ranks in global chip powerhouse Intel.
“I did my interview in March 1996 in this room. They offered me the job and I thought I’ll go join for a couple of years, maybe three, four years, and then I’ll go back to research. And that’s 27, 28 years ago,” she recalls. That kicked off a round of moves that has seen her build experience in various parts of the company and work her way through the ranks.
Bob Swan asked Kelleher to take over technology development. She was later appointed executive vice president and general manager, technology development at Intel, the first time an Irish person had held such a senior role. Gelsinger has injected new life into the chip maker since taking over in 2021, lured away from VMware to replace Swan. He laid out an ambitious project: five generational leaps in four years that would put Intel back on top.
“That is a fundamental change in the architecture of the transistor. The last change to the architecture of the transistor was when we moved to FinFET back in 2011. Intel was first into the industry with that,” says Kelleher. “In conjunction with that we’ve also been working on leadership packaging. The days of where the package was just the protection around the piece of silicon and then gave the signals and the power in and out are gone.
“When I went to university in UCC there was five of us in a class of 55,” she says. “When I grew up at home my dad didn’t treat my brother and me any different. It was like ‘You’ve all got to do the jobs’. It didn’t matter that I was a girl, it didn’t get me out of doing the jobs, but we were treated very, very equally.
The tech industry has come a long way in terms of recognising the issues that a lack of diversity in hiring can cause. But the job is not yet complete. Intel is now firmly positioning itself for the future. It is building factories in the US, Israel, Ireland and Germany. The investment to upgrade and expand its facilities worldwide has been expensive, but Intel is hoping that by shifting the business towards a foundry, where it will make chips for other companies as well as its own, that it can make it all worthwhile.
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