Justin Hotard, an up-and-coming talent at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, has been recruited by Intel to lead the esteemed Data Center and AI Group within the company.
Assuming the role of executive vice president and general manager, Hotard is set to commence his tenure on February 1st, as announced by the Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor giant on Wednesday. There is speculation that he might succeed Sandra Rivera, who recently transitioned to the position of CEO of Intel’s Programmable Solutions Group, now operating as an independent entity within the company.
Prior to joining Intel, Hotard held the position of executive vice president and general manager of high-performance processing, AI, and labs at HPE. In this capacity, he was tasked with delivering cutting-edge AI capabilities to clients, tackling some of the nation’s most complex challenges through data-intensive workloads.
Taking the reins of Intel’s Data Center and AI Group, Hotard steps into a competitive landscape, facing off against industry players such as AMD in the x86 server CPU market, as well as Nvidia, AMD, and other emerging firms in the realm of AI technology. Additionally, Intel is contending with the emergence of Arm-based server chips from Ampere Computing, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure.
Recent developments from the Data Center and AI Group include the launch of the fifth-generation Xeon chips, touted by the company to enhance AI performance across all cores, surpassing the latest EPYC chips from AMD. Intel is also vying for market dominance in IoT technology, not only with its Xeon CPUs but also through its Gaudi accelerator cards and innovative program initiatives, directly challenging Nvidia’s market position.
These strategic moves align with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger’s ambitious roadmap, aiming to outpace Asian semiconductor giants Samsung and TSMC in advanced chip manufacturing capabilities by 2025.
Gelsinger expressed confidence in Hotard’s leadership abilities, highlighting his customer-centric approach and proven track record in driving growth and innovation in the data center and AI sectors. Emphasizing Intel’s pivotal role in shaping future technology landscapes, Gelsinger reiterated the company’s commitment to pioneering transformative technological solutions under Hotard’s guidance.
