Intel's Dadi Perlmutter to step down in February

Intel Corp senior executive David Perlmutter, who developed technology that was key to the success of laptop personal computers, is leaving after 34 years at the chipmaker.

Perlmutter, who was passed over by Intel's board for the job of chief executive officer earlier this year, will leave in February to pursue other opportunities, the company said in a filing on Wednesday.

As Executive Vice President and General Manager, Intel Architecture Group, Perlmutter was sidelined in May after Brian Krzanich was appointed chief executive and quickly reorganized the chipmaker's main product groups.

The PC client group, mobile communications and data center unit that previously reported to Perlmutter now answer directly to Krzanich, who previously ran Intel's cutting-edge chip plants.

Known affectionately within Intel and among friends as Dadi, Perlmutter joined the company in 1980 after graduating from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

A decade ago, he headed development of technology used in Intel's Centrino platform, which led to the widespread adoption of Wifi technology that freed computer users from using cables to connect to the Internet.

Before that, he led technology pushes that contributed to Intel's Pentium processors.

"A lot of the way people use their PCs today is due in no small part to the work Dadi did," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy.

During his career, Intel became a dominant chipmaker calling the shots in the PC industry. But in recent years, it has struggled to catch up with smaller rivals such as Qualcomm Inc as smartphones and tablets gained popularity.

An Israeli based at the chipmaker's Santa Clara, California headquarters, Perlmutter was also the company's most senior Intel executive to be paid in Israeli shekels.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich. Editing by Andre Grenon)