Tatas rope in Intel veteran Tim McIntosh to steer Assam chip assembly plant

Tata Electronics has appointed Tim McIntosh as vice president and head of operations and manufacturing excellence of Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test (TSAT).

McIntosh is the latest senior executive to be hired from Intel, having worked at the US firm for 34 years. In his last role at Intel, he was the advanced packaging factory general manager.

Tata Electronics is setting up TSAT in Morigaon, Assam. The company is also accelerating its hiring drive, especially in Southeast Asian countries.


Malaysia is a strategic location for TSAT to organise a hiring drive as the country holds 13% of the global market for chip packaging, assembly and testing services, as per a February 18 report by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority.

Similarly, Singapore is a natural choice for the company as estimates from the Singapore Economic Development Board suggest that the country accounts for 10% of all chips produced worldwide and about 20% of global semiconductor manufacturing equipment production.

Queries sent to Tata Electronics remained unanswered till press time.

ET was the first to report in January that Tata Electronics was seeking to recruit from Intel, with hires like Reda Masarwa who is the company's senior vice president - construction and facility.

Tata Electronics chief executive and managing director Randhir Thakur too joined from Intel, where he served as the president of Intel Foundry Services.

But Tata Electronics is not restricting itself to Intel. Last month, the electronics arm of the Tata group appointed Global Foundries' KC Ang as the president and head of Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing.

The company is conducting a hiring roadshow in Penang on May 24, followed by a walk-in drive on May 25 and May 26. A similar roadshow will take place in Singapore on May 31, followed by a walk-in drive on June 1.

“Tata Electronics is scaling — and we’re looking for experienced semiconductor professionals to lead the way," Tim McIntosh said in a post on LinkedIn about the roadshow in Malaysia. “We are expanding our semiconductor assembly and test operations in India (Assam & Karnataka), and actively hiring senior engineers, technical leaders, and domain experts in assembly, test, and quality functions. This is a unique opportunity to shape a greenfield semiconductor operation and drive high-impact innovation in one of India’s most strategic tech sectors.”

He further said that the company was keen to meet candidates with more than five years of deep technical experience in the semiconductor assembly, test development and quality engineering spheres.