Intel Foundry's Kevin O'Buckley is leaving the company to join Qualcomm as Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Supply Chain, effective March 2, 2026. After less than two years leading Intel Foundry, O'Buckley will oversee global semiconductor operations, including manufacturing engineering, foundry partnerships, and procurement.

O'Buckley's departure comes as Intel Foundry undergoes leadership restructuring. Naga Chandrasekaran will expand his role to oversee both technology development and manufacturing operations, supervising next-generation process nodes, advanced packaging, and global fabrication networks. Chandrasekaran previously led front-end process technology development and manufacturing, already managing both the Technology Development organization and Foundry Manufacturing and Supply Chain group since mid-2024.

This executive move highlights the competitive talent landscape in semiconductor manufacturing. O'Buckley brings extensive industry experience from IBM, GlobalFoundries, and Marvell to Qualcomm, where he'll be responsible for scaling manufacturing partnerships and overseeing chip design transitions into volume production. The shift underscores Qualcomm's strategic focus on strengthening its semiconductor operations as the industry faces ongoing supply chain challenges and increasing demand for advanced chip manufacturing capabilities.