INTC Intel Corporation

Intel Corp. once again reached outside its ranks to fill a key executive position, recruiting an executive from rival ARM Holdings PLC as the big chip maker steps up plans to sell chips for devices other than computers.

The company on Tuesday said Thomas Lantzsch will become in January senior vice president in charge of an Intel group focusing on the Internet of Things, or IoT, a phrase used to describe a wide range of everyday devices enhanced with communications and computing capabilities. He had served as executive vice president for strategy at ARM, a British provider of microprocessor designs that was recently purchased by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp.

Intel is breaking out technology for cars, which has emerged as one of the hottest IoT markets, into a separate effort. Intel said it is forming a unit called the automated driving group that will develop chips and other technology related to self-driving cars and driver-assistance systems.

Douglas Davis, a senior vice president who has been running the IoT group, changed previously announced plans to retire and will help lead the automated driving group, Intel said. The group will be jointly run with Kathy Winter, a vice president who joined Intel earlier this year from Delphi Automotive PLC, the big automotive components supplier.

Intel described the changes in a blog post by Venkata Renduchintala, who joined Intel in November from rival Qualcomm Inc. to oversee most product development at Intel. He wrote that Mr. Lantzsch brings "deep strategic and operational acumen" and will be "an accelerant leader for Intel and our industry."

Recruiting external expertise has been a key priority for Brian Krzanich, Intel's chief executive, as he leads the company into new fields where he aims to catch up to competitors.

That is particularly true in chips for cars, where Intel faces entrenched competitors such as NXP Semiconductors NV—which recently agreed to be acquired by Qualcomm for $39 billion—and relative newcomers such as Nvidia Corp., which has focused on autonomous driving applications.

But Mr. Krzanich, who recently gave a keynote speech at the annual auto show in Los Angeles, has been able to point to some wins. Delphi and Mobileye NV, for example, on Tuesday said they would use Intel chips for an autonomous driving system they are developing for car makers that will be demonstrated in January at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 29, 2016 16:25 ET (21:25 GMT)

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