Intel Shuffles Top Executives

Intel Corp. on Monday named co-founder and Chief Executive Andrew Grove as chairman effective May 21, replacing Gordon Moore in a revamping of its three-person executive office.

Moore, 68, the co-founder of Intel who is considered one of the fathers of the microprocessor industry, will become chairman emeritus.

Craig Barrett, chief operating officer and executive vice president, will take on the additional title of president, replacing Grove in that position.

The three men will continue to compose the executive office of the world’s largest chip maker, which is based in Santa Clara.

“This series of moves is part of the ongoing management transition process at Intel,” Moore said.

Moore, Grove and Robert Noyce founded Intel in 1968 after the three engineers left Fairchild Semiconductor. The company initially specialized in memory chips, then abandoned that market to focus on microprocessors in 1985. Noyce died in 1990.

Grove’s move from president to chairman and Barrett’s from executive vice president to president had been expected to happen at some point. Along with Moore, the men have managed Intel together as the executive office, and Intel said they will continue to do so.

“Craig is the guy who keeps the Intel machine running,” Grove said of Barrett. “He is the architect of our manufacturing system and the principal driver behind our management methods and culture. In recent years I have shifted my activities to more of an industry focus; without Craig in place, this wouldn’t have been possible.”

Barrett, 57, has been executive vice president since 1990 and chief operating officer since 1993. He joined Intel in 1974 as technology development manager. He later ran Intel’s manufacturing operations and managed the company’s microcomputer components group.

Grove, 60, who started with Intel as its head of research, has been president since 1979 and chief executive since 1987.

Moore, who has served as Intel president and CEO, developed a theory in 1965 about the evolution of semiconductor chips--that the amount of transistors that could be placed on a chip would double every 12 to 18 months. “Moore’s Law” still holds true today.

Intel plans to report its earnings for the fourth quarter and for 1996 today.

Analysts on average estimate Intel earned about $2 a share for the fourth quarter--about double the 98 cents a share it earned in the same quarter a year earlier,, according to First Call, which tracks analyst estimates.