Intel chairman Barrett to retire

SAN FRANCISCO — Intel Corp. Chairman Craig Barrett, who steered the company through the dot-com meltdown as chief executive officer and has become a high-profile advocate for expanded computing in the developing world, plans to retire in May, the company said Friday.

Barrett, 69, has spent more than three decades at Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel. He served as its fourth CEO, a position he held for seven years until Paul Otellini took over in 2005. Intel is the world’s largest semiconductor company, with 80% of the market for microprocessors, the brains of personal computers.

Barrett’s tenure as CEO was marked by his commitment to sustaining Intel’s aggressive investments in its factories during the tech industry’s prolonged slump following the dot-com collapse. The strategy was seen as foolhardy by some investors as Intel’s profit shriveled, but it apparently paid off: Intel’s cutting-edge factories are crucial to maintaining its advantage over rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and making cheaper, more powerful chips.

In recent years, Barrett has worked with the United Nations and humanitarian organizations on bringing computers and other technologies to developing countries. That role also gave Barrett an opportunity to push the inexpensive Classmate PCs that Intel designed for schoolchildren.

Barrett joined Intel in 1974 and held jobs ranging from technology development manager to various vice president roles before becoming chief executive and chairman.

Barrett said in an interview that he felt it was the right time to retire as he approached 70 years old and because Intel’s technology was “in as strong a position as I’ve ever seen it.”

“I wouldn’t trade the 35 years for anything,” he said. “The technology we brought out in that time literally changed the world.”

He is being replaced by Jane Shaw, a former pharmaceutical executive who has served on Intel’s board since 1993. Shaw will serve as non-executive chairwoman.