Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has disclosed that Stacy Smith, the chipmaker’s long-serving executive is leaving the company after having served for three decades. Smith’s departure will take effect next year in January. Earlier this year in April he had been appointed as operations, manufacturing and sales group president. And prior to this new position he had been the company’s chief financial officer for a period of nine years. This saw him guide the company during the 2007/2008 financial crisis.

“Stacy helped guide Intel through the great recession as CFO and has been instrumental in helping to transform Intel from PC to data-centric. For me personally, Stacy has been an incredibly valued colleague, and I will miss him,” said the chief executive officer of Intel, Brian Krzanich in a statement.

Variety of roles

At some point Smith was expected to succeed Krzanich as he was well versed with the company having served in various capacities and in various places around the world. Prior to his stint as a chief financial officer of the chipmaker, Smith had served as a chief information officer. He had also served as a general manager for the EMEA region. In 2002 he was also named Intel sales and marketing vice president. Smith, an MBA holder, is a University of Texas alumnus and joined the chipmaker in 1988.

In the course of the last few years Intel has been hit by a wave of high senior-level executive turnover. Other senior executives who have left this year include Kim Stevenson, the chief of the mobile and PC group and Diane Bryant, the head of the data center unit.

PC dependency

The departures have coincided with the chipmaker’s efforts to reduce its dependency on the personal computer market after it missed the mobile phone revolution. The company’s turnaround efforts are far from over and the price of the stock has fallen by 4% this year compared to its rivals’ stocks which have moved in the opposite direction. Since the year began the stock price of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) has appreciated by 52% while that of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) has increased by 7%.

On Tuesday shares of Intel Corporation fell by 0.77% to close the day at $34.65.