As his retirement nears, Sean Maloney, chairman of Intel China, reflects on 3 decades at the company.
"I joined Intel because of the microprocessor. I believed, like many people, that the microprocessor was going to change the world," said Sean Maloney, executive vice president and chairman of Intel China.
Sean Maloney is retiring in January after 30 years with Intel. During his career with the company, he has held numerous leadership roles, most recently as chairman of Intel China. When his retirement was announced in September, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini said of him, “Sean is a well-known visionary for Intel and the computing industry. He leaves a major mark on Intel and the industry.”
In 2010, Maloney suffered a massive stroke and took a medical leave. He faced an arduous path to regain speech and full physical activity. Maloney had to learn to talk again from the other side of his brain, which he said is “by far the hardest thing that I have ever done.” An avid rower, he returned to his racing scull and competed in the Head of the Charles Regatta, a major rowing event in Boston, just 8 months after hearing a doctor say that he’d never row again. Ten months after the stroke Maloney returned to work and within 6 months, in May 2011, was appointed chairman of Intel China. Today he is learning Mandarin.
From Beijing, Maloney recently spoke about his career with Intel, including why he took a pay cut to join Intel and his pursuit of the job as technical assistant to Andy Grove, then Intel chairman and CEO.
What brought you to Intel back in 1982?
From 2006, Intel executives, from left, Paul Otellini, president and CEO, Craig Barrett, chairman, and Sean Maloney, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer. They are viewing a demonstration of the then-new Intel Core2 Duo processor.
I joined Intel because of the microprocessor. I believed, like many people, that the microprocessor was going to change the world. But that wasn’t really the case in 1982. Mainframes were “it.”
I used to go up to Scotland, to IBM Scotland. And it was a mainframe city. But I knew that Intel was going to come into the picture. Most of our revenue was memory. The 386 hadn’t been invented yet. There were no personal computers anywhere.
So I came to Intel for a pay cut. I was in software, and deliberately came to Intel because I believed the microprocessor was “it.”
From 1992 to 1995, you served as technical assistant to Andy Grove, Intel’s chairman and CEO. How did you come to be Grove’s TA?
Andy Grove came over to London two or three times in the early part of the ’80s. I took him to meet with the CEO of Amstrad. Over about 2 years, I got to know him very well. The job opened up as Andy’s TA, so I came over to Santa Clara and I saw the Intel building. And geez, it was huge. I couldn’t believe it. I was really in his face. I was dying to be his TA. I called him up at least three times. “Do I have the job? Do I have the job?”
What did you admire most about Grove?
Sean Maloney, executive vice president of Intel, delivers the opening keynote at Computex 2011.
He was the first boss I had who totally knew what he was doing. He knew the right thing for Intel. Some days, he would really piss me off because, he would say to me, “It’s not good enough. It’s not good enough.” And then, late at night, he would call me at home and he’d say, “I know I went too far.” That’s amazing. No other person I know would do that in the 1990s. I hope I’ve got a little bit of him.
What bit would you want to have?
Always question the obvious. When everyone is thinking one way, it’s another way. I remember in meetings, Andy would say something which all of us thought was complete garbage. And after about an hour, we thought, you know, maybe it isn’t complete garbage. Then, after another hour we thought, that’s it! It was Andy. He was incredible. He kept the pace red hot. He’s very kind as well. He didn’t come across as being kind at work, but he was really kind.
Looking back, what are you most proud of?
Working hard in Intel teams with people who made a difference. Looking back, people forget we “built” the Web. I started out as a field applications engineer with responsibility for LAN technology. We created the first LAN networks. Later on, we built Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi didn’t exist! Zero units in Wi-Fi to billions of units. That’s Intel.
Sean Maloney Looks Back
As his retirement nears, Sean Maloney, chairman of Intel China, reflects on 3 decades at the company.
"I joined Intel because of the microprocessor. I believed, like many people, that the microprocessor was going to change the world," said Sean Maloney, executive vice president and chairman of Intel China.
Sean Maloney is retiring in January after 30 years with Intel. During his career with the company, he has held numerous leadership roles, most recently as chairman of Intel China. When his retirement was announced in September, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini said of him, “Sean is a well-known visionary for Intel and the computing industry. He leaves a major mark on Intel and the industry.”
In 2010, Maloney suffered a massive stroke and took a medical leave. He faced an arduous path to regain speech and full physical activity. Maloney had to learn to talk again from the other side of his brain, which he said is “by far the hardest thing that I have ever done.” An avid rower, he returned to his racing scull and competed in the Head of the Charles Regatta, a major rowing event in Boston, just 8 months after hearing a doctor say that he’d never row again. Ten months after the stroke Maloney returned to work and within 6 months, in May 2011, was appointed chairman of Intel China. Today he is learning Mandarin.
From Beijing, Maloney recently spoke about his career with Intel, including why he took a pay cut to join Intel and his pursuit of the job as technical assistant to Andy Grove, then Intel chairman and CEO.
What brought you to Intel back in 1982?
From 2006, Intel executives, from left, Paul Otellini, president and CEO, Craig Barrett, chairman, and Sean Maloney, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer. They are viewing a demonstration of the then-new Intel Core2 Duo processor.
I joined Intel because of the microprocessor. I believed, like many people, that the microprocessor was going to change the world. But that wasn’t really the case in 1982. Mainframes were “it.”
I used to go up to Scotland, to IBM Scotland. And it was a mainframe city. But I knew that Intel was going to come into the picture. Most of our revenue was memory. The 386 hadn’t been invented yet. There were no personal computers anywhere.
So I came to Intel for a pay cut. I was in software, and deliberately came to Intel because I believed the microprocessor was “it.”
From 1992 to 1995, you served as technical assistant to Andy Grove, Intel’s chairman and CEO. How did you come to be Grove’s TA?
Andy Grove came over to London two or three times in the early part of the ’80s. I took him to meet with the CEO of Amstrad. Over about 2 years, I got to know him very well. The job opened up as Andy’s TA, so I came over to Santa Clara and I saw the Intel building. And geez, it was huge. I couldn’t believe it. I was really in his face. I was dying to be his TA. I called him up at least three times. “Do I have the job? Do I have the job?”
What did you admire most about Grove?
Sean Maloney, executive vice president of Intel, delivers the opening keynote at Computex 2011.
He was the first boss I had who totally knew what he was doing. He knew the right thing for Intel. Some days, he would really piss me off because, he would say to me, “It’s not good enough. It’s not good enough.” And then, late at night, he would call me at home and he’d say, “I know I went too far.” That’s amazing. No other person I know would do that in the 1990s. I hope I’ve got a little bit of him.
What bit would you want to have?
Always question the obvious. When everyone is thinking one way, it’s another way. I remember in meetings, Andy would say something which all of us thought was complete garbage. And after about an hour, we thought, you know, maybe it isn’t complete garbage. Then, after another hour we thought, that’s it! It was Andy. He was incredible. He kept the pace red hot. He’s very kind as well. He didn’t come across as being kind at work, but he was really kind.
Looking back, what are you most proud of?
Working hard in Intel teams with people who made a difference. Looking back, people forget we “built” the Web. I started out as a field applications engineer with responsibility for LAN technology. We created the first LAN networks. Later on, we built Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi didn’t exist! Zero units in Wi-Fi to billions of units. That’s Intel.
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