Could Thomas Caulfield lead Intel or a merged Intel-GloFo?

Speculation has started to circulate that Thomas Caulfield, CEO of Globalfoundries Inc., could be set to replace Pat Gelsinger as permanent CEO of struggling chip giant Intel.

While a recent executive reshuffle at Globalfoundries has prompted the speculation there are both pro and contra indicators, which is leading observers to question whether he may be destined to be executive chair of a company formed by a merger between Intel and Globalfoundries.

The changes just announced include Caulfield from CEO to executive chairman and Tom Breen from COO to CEO and come into effect on April 28.

The reshuffle at GlobalFoundries was not expected causing people to consider Caulfield’s credentials for the top job at Intel, which has been operating under interim co-CEOs since Gelsinger’s departure in December 2024.

Caulfield has been with Globalfoundries for 10 years and as CEO for seven. At the beginning of his tenure in the top job Caulfield made the strategic decision to focus on specialty chips rather than trying to compete with Intel, TSMC, and Samsung at the leading edge. This move ultimately proved successful, as GlobalFoundries became profitable and went public in 2021.

Caulfield is aged about 65 years so a move to executive chair of the company makes sense. And it does not suggest the bandwidth to take on the CEO role at Intel and if the two companies were independent this could throw up conflicts of interest. In addition, Caulfield’s industry experience is in chip manufacturing and he has not been responsible for a product company, which is what Intel is predominantly.

This has also led to speculation that a corporate merger could be in planning with Caulfield as executive chair and Michelle Johnston Holthaus as CEO of the product business and Tom Breen, the incoming CEO at Globalfoundries to take responsibility of merging with Intel Foundry and driving a service culture there.

The merger is a good fit as Intel’s R&D has striven to get the company back to the leading edge with its 18A manufacturing node and Globalfoundries has serviced customers behind the leading-edge but would benefit from a roadmap to finer geometries.

Breen has been with GlobalFoundries since 2018. Before joining the company he was a member of the executive team at Mubadala Investment Company, which is the majority owner of the stock-exchanged listed GlobalFoundries.

Observers at a Reddit stream have pointed that the GlobalFoundries announcement came two days after an unusual purchase of 8,913,000 shares in Intel at a price of US$19.29. The reddit stream said this is close to the US$172 million stock incentive offered to Pat Gelsinger when he took on the Intel CEO job in 2021.