Wall Street welcomed the move by sending Intel’s shares up nearly 15 per cent this week. But the decision came after a deliberative process, with chair Frank Yeary saying the board had met with “many strong leaders” before settling on the Malaysia-born, Mandarin-speaking, MIT-educated executive — whose interest in the job was an open secret.

Shares of Intel closed 14% higher on Thursday, as Wall Street cheered its decision to name former board member Lip-Bu Tan as CEO, who left in August over differences about the chipmaker's direction, after several years of market underperformance.