The head of Intel chip contract manufacturing service resigned.

CTOnews.com Randhir Thakur, head of Intel's contract chip manufacturing division, has resigned, according to a report in The Register, confirmed by Intel. Thakur will continue to lead Intel foundry services through the first quarter of 2023 to ensure a smooth transition of new leaders.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger sent an email to employees thanking Randhir Thakur for his investment in building Intel Foundry Services (IFS) and for helping with the company's IDM 2.0 business model.

"Randhir has been a key member of the executive leadership team for the past two and a half years and has held several senior leadership positions since joining us in 2017," Intel CEO wrote in an email quoted by The Register. "

Indeed, Randhir Thakur has done quite a bit of pride at IFS. During his tenure, Intel announced the acquisition of Tower Semiconductor (which made Intel one of the largest contract chipmakers). He was also instrumental in signing deals with giant chip developers such as MediaTek, which happens to be one of TSMC's biggest customers. The contract was a major win for IFS, which also won the U.S. Department of Defense's Rapid Assurance Microelectronics Prototype-Commerce (RAMP-C) program contract.

Tomsharware believes IFS is not currently an ideal contract chipmaker, at least based on an understanding of Intel's process technology roadmap to 2025. The company's announced plans so far largely align its production nodes with its own manufacturing processes, which is good for Intel as an IDM (Integrated Design Manufacturer), but may not be enough to convince companies such as Apple, AMD and Nvidia to use IFS services for their high-volume products.

CTOnews.com understands that Intel's foundry services division generated $171 million in revenue in the company's fiscal third quarter of 2022, which is only about 1.1% of the company's revenue.