Former SK Hynix CEO Lee Suk-hee Returns to Intel to Lead Advanced Packaging Business
Alina Collins
Intel has appointed former SK Hynix CEO Lee Seok-Hee as executive vice president in charge of advanced packaging within its foundry business — a key move by CEO Lip-Bu Tan to push EMIB-T and HBI packaging technologies toward volume production.
What will Lee Seok-Hee actually do?
Lee rejoins Intel as executive vice president (EVP), running the advanced packaging division inside Intel Foundry.
His core mission: bring EMIB-T — embedded multi-die interconnect bridge plus through-silicon vias, a way to link multiple chips through tiny "bridges" and vertical channels — and HBI (high-bandwidth interconnect, a faster chip-to-chip data link) to volume production.
This means → Intel is elevating advanced packaging from a research effort to a standalone business line, led by a CEO-caliber executive.
How is Intel Foundry's leadership now split?
Naga Chandrasekaran keeps the front end — process technology development and wafer fabrication.
Lee takes the back end — advanced packaging. Navid Shahriari, who previously ran packaging, will retire.
In plain terms = Intel Foundry now has two parallel tracks — "making chips" and "assembling chips" — each with its own senior leader. Packaging has been elevated to the same rank as manufacturing.
Why Lee Seok-Hee?
He joined Intel in 2000, spent roughly a decade there as head of process integration, and played a key role in developing 32 nm transistor technology — he knows Intel's technical DNA.
In 2013 he moved to SK Hynix, led its future-technology research lab, and became SK Hynix CEO in December 2018, serving until 2022.
This means → he combines deep Intel process knowledge with top-management experience at a major memory maker — a rare "manufacturing + leadership" dual track in the semiconductor industry.
What happened between leaving SK and joining Intel?
After stepping down as SK Hynix CEO, he chaired the board of Solidigm, SK Hynix's enterprise-storage subsidiary, and served as a technical adviser.
From December 2023 to May 2026 he was CEO of battery maker SK On, then resigned citing health and stamina.
Intel announced his new appointment less than a month after that resignation — the tight timeline has drawn outside attention.
What is the bigger picture?
This is another major personnel move in CEO Lip-Bu Tan's overhaul of Intel Foundry. Lee himself wrote on LinkedIn that Tan's vision, customer-first commitment, and execution drove his decision to return.
External backdrop: U.S. President Trump previously announced that Apple has agreed to partner with Intel on chip design and manufacturing in the United States.
This reflects Tan's pattern of installing battle-tested leaders at every critical node of the foundry business. Whether Lee can accelerate the commercialization of advanced packaging will be a key test of this restructuring's real-world impact.
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