Intel Chairman Barrett to retire in May

ByABC News
January 24, 2009, 5:09 AM

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barrett, 69, has spent more than three decades at Intel. He served as its fourth CEO, a position he held for seven years until Paul Otellini took over in 2005.

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 international schoolchildren. The Classmate has rivaled the non-profit One Laptop Per Child project begun at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Barrett, who joined Intel in 1974 and has held jobs ranging from technology development manager to various vice president roles, has been chairman since 2005.

Barrett said he felt it is the right time to retire as he approaches 70 years old and because Intel's technology is "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."

Barrett plans to split his time between a home in Arizona and his ranch in Montana.

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

Intel is the world's largest semiconductor company, with 80% of the world's market for microprocessors, the brains of personal computers.