Lip-Bu Tan may be one of the most powerful technology executives you’ve never heard of. As he steps into one of the highest-profile jobs on the planet, CEO of troubled, storied chipmaker Intel, his performance will be on full display. Tan, named Intel CEO on Wednesday, faces an enormous challenge in turning around the operations of a company tha t put the “silicon” in Silicon Valley. While little known to the public, his advantage is that virtually every one of Intel’s former and potential customers knows him and has done business with him, either buying one of the many startups he backed or using software from a company he ran. Tan rubs shoulders with the likes of Lisa Su from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), opens new tab and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, two AI chip leaders who, according to Reuters reports, had been pitched to invest in Intel. His efforts are also likely to be closely watched by U.S. President Donald Trump, who is eager for Intel to rebound. Tan “can leverage his experience and especially his industry connections, while also pursuing excellence within Intel,” said independent analyst Jack Gold. “Hopefully the board will stay out of his way as he makes needed changes.” Shares of Intel were up more than 10% in premarket trading on Thursday. To right the semiconductor industry’s biggest ship, Tan, 65, may use underdog strategies that helped him turn around smaller companies that later became big.

Full profile : Intel’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan invested in Annapurna Labs and Nuvia and revived the fortunes of chip design firm Cadence Design Systems as its CEO.