[News] Automotive AI Company Cerence Faces Criticisms for Hiring Ex-Intel CEO Brian Krzanich

---

---

Ex-Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was recently appointed as CEO of Cerence Inc., an automotive AI technology company. The announcement quickly sparked criticism and backlash on social media. According to a report from Tom’s Hardware, even Cerence’s LinkedIn page was flooded with disapproving comments, forcing the company to disable the comment section.

According to a press release from Cerence, Krzanich was appointed Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective immediately following the announcement on October 7th.

In the press release, Arun Sarin, Chairman of the Cerence Board, stated that “Brian is a proven public company CEO with a successful track record of driving large-scale business transformations, fostering innovation and achieving sustainable growth. His leadership skills and expertise in AI and cloud computing make Brian the right leader to guide Cerence through this transition.”

The press release also highlights Krzanich’s previous experience, noting that he “led Intel into emerging areas such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and autonomous driving, while the company scaled from  USD 52 billion to over USD 70 billion in revenue” during his tenure from 2013 to 2018.

However, the announcement of Krzanich’s appointment as CEO has sparked criticism and disapproval on social media, forcing Cerence to shut down the entire comment section.

Among Intel’s former CEOs, Krzanich is often regarded as a controversial figure. During a period of decline in the PC market, he helped shift Intel’s focus toward the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing. However, because he does not believe in the economic scalability of EUV technology, he decided to forgo ASML’s first-generation EUV equipment, resulting in delays in Intel’s 10nm progress. As a result, the company fell behind competitors like TSMC and Samsung in advanced nodes and lost market share to rival AMD.

Read more

• [News] The Semiconductor Giant Falling from Grace: Intel and the CEOs Who Changed Its Destiny

(Photo credit: Cerence Inc.)