On June 20, 2026, Intel announced the appointment of Lee Seok-hee, former CEO of SK Hynix and SK On, as senior vice president in its foundry business, overseeing advanced packaging, system integration... Read original →
Industry Analysis
Intel’s recruitment of ex-SK Hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee signals a strategic pivot to dominate advanced packaging—not just talent acquisition. Lee’s HBM expertise will accelerate EMIB-T and HBI maturity, directly addressing AI chiplet-to-memory integration bottlenecks. This pressures TSMC and Samsung to expedite CoWoS and I-Cube scaling or risk ceding AI server leadership. Amid tightening U.S.-South Korea export controls, Lee’s presence may enhance Intel’s supply chain resilience by localizing critical backend processes. Over the next 12–24 months, advanced packaging will evolve from a supporting process to a system-defining capability. If Intel synchronizes its 18A/14A node ramp with packaging integration under this new structure, it could reclaim meaningful foundry market share.