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Mit Sailesh Kottapalli verliert die Xeon-Sparte von Intel ihren Chefarchitekten, der fortan für Qualcomm tätig sein wird. Kottapalli verlässt das Unternehmen nach mehr als 28 Jahren, wonach dieser Wechsel natürlich von besonderer Bedeutung ist. Unter Kottapalli und Ronak Singhal wurden die Xeon-Prozessoren zum Marktführer im Serverbereich – in den vergangenen Jahren sorgten jedoch Fehlplanungen und Fehlausrichtungen dafür, dass der einstige Monopolist mit den EPYC-Prozessoren von AMD sowie den ARM-Eigenentwicklungen der Hyperscaler starke Konkurrenz bekommen hatte.
Im Jahr 2018 stellte Qualcomm seine Centriq-Serverserie ein. Nach dem Aufkauf von Nuvia erteilte Qualcomm den Server-Ambitionen 2020 noch eine Absage. Stattdessen wurde aus der Entwicklung bei Nuvia die Snapdragon-X-Prozessoren, die ihre Serverausrichtung aber nicht vollends ablegen konnten. Doch inzwischen scheint sich die Ausrichtung geändert zu haben. Inzwischen sucht Qualcomm nach einem SoC-Architekten für sein Datacenter-Team: "Qualcomm Data Center team is developing High performance, Energy efficient server solution for data center applications."
Welche Position Sailesh Kottapalli bei Qualcomm besetzt, ist nicht bekannt.
In einem Posting bei LinkedIn beschreibt Kottapalli seine Entscheidung:
As we head into 2025, I am excited to share that I have joined Qualcomm. The opportunity to innovate and grow while helping to scale new frontiers was immensely compelling to me - a once-in-a-career opportunity that I could not pass on.
The start of this new chapter also coincides with the closing of a previous one at Intel that lasted 28 years. This experience was tremendously gratifying, and I would like to acknowledge it.
What kept me going at Intel for almost three decades was the continuous learning experience and the challenge of doing something meaningful, not just for Intel, but for the world at large. My journey took me through roles as a validation engineer, logic designer, full-chip floor planner, post-silicon debug engineer, micro architect, and architect. I worked on CPU cores, memory, IO, and platform aspects of the system, spanning multiple architectures across x86 and Itanium, and products including CPU and GPU, most importantly shaping the Xeon product line. Each role presented unique challenges and struggles, which I deeply appreciated and look back on fondly. Intel never failed to provide me with opportunities to learn and grow as a technologist, a leader, and as a person overall. I have always been inspired by numerous brilliant colleagues who motivated me to do better, and I have benefited from the guidance of many who were generous with their time and commitment as partners, supervisors, mentors, coaches, and sponsors.
While there is never a suitable time to end a journey, I feel good about where Xeon is right now and what is coming up next. Intel holds a special place in my heart, and I will continue cheering for its return to greatness.
I am also incredibly grateful to the friends who generously offered their time and provided me with valuable guidance, pointers, and connections as I explore future pursuits.