Chip manufacturer Intel (INTC.US) is working diligently to reverse its declining fortunes and announced two significant personnel changes on Monday: appointing new leaders for two core product divisions while confirming that veteran executive Michelle Johnston Holthaus, who previously managed both divisions, will be departing.

According to Intel's statement released Monday, ARM Holdings executive Kevork Kechichian will join Intel as head of the data center division, while Jim Johnson, who has been with Intel for over 40 years, will take charge of the personal computer (PC) chip business. Additionally, Intel will establish a central engineering department led by Senior Vice President Srinivasan Iyengar, who joined the company in June this year.

All three new leaders will report directly to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Lip-Bu Tan. Tan assumed the role of Intel CEO in March, and these appointments represent a crucial step in his strategy to reshape the company - he is attempting to reverse the decline of this semiconductor industry giant by building a core management team.

In recent years, Intel has gradually lost ground to competitors, particularly failing to fully capitalize on opportunities during the surge in demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-related products. Among these appointments, Kechichian's role is especially critical: he needs to develop a completely new strategy for the data center division and launch core products. The data center market has seen its value soar due to massive investments in AI infrastructure, and this market, which once relied almost entirely on Intel's Xeon server processors, now generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue for competitor Nvidia Corp.

The statement also mentioned that Holthaus, who has been with Intel for over 30 years, served as co-CEO after former CEO Pat Gelsinger's departure. She will remain in a "strategic advisor" capacity for the coming months to ensure smooth business transitions.