Chip-maker king Intel has swooped to hire the former executive vice president of Qualcomm Technologies Inc., barely 24 hours after he left his old employer.

Dr Venkata “Murthy” Renduchintala has been appointed as the president of Intel’s newly created Client and Internet of Things (IoT) Businesses and Systems Architecture Group, which accounts for the bulk of Intel’s processor sales, including both PCs and mobile devices.

Intel has traditionally generated the lion’s share of its revenues from selling PC chips, but with that market segment in a seemingly irreversible decline, Intel has been desperately scrambling to grow other areas of its business, with a special focus on chips for data centers and the Internet of Things.

Renduchintala was tasked with leading the development of the eponymous Snapdragon mobile device processors during his time at Qualcomm. Those chips now power the vast majority of high-end Android smartphones today. But the circumstances of Renduchintala’s departure from Qualcomm are somewhat unclear, with the ex-vice president’s departure being announced at the same time as Cristiano Amon was promoted to be the sole president of that division just last week.

In a statement, Qualcomm said Renduchintala’s departure was far from sudden, as he was given several months notice of the plans to promote Amon before it actually happened:

“A few months ago we made the decision to move away from a co-president leadership structure for QCT,” the company said in a statement. “Cristiano Amon was the clear choice as President of the chipset business. We made the decision to enhance the operation of QCT by having a single decision maker who has an exceptional track record of executing and has the confidence of the team and our customers. We are confident in Cristiano’s leadership as we capitalize on the opportunities ahead. Murthy was offered another role within Qualcomm, but he chose to leave the company instead.”

Renduchintala may not have been forced out by his old employer, but Patrick Moorhead, President and Principal Analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, said that being overlooked for the role of president no doubt left him feeling somewhat disappointed, and perhaps unwilling to continue.

“First, you had Qualcomm moving from two co-Presidents to one, and Murthy didn’t get the nod,” Moorhead said. “I don’t think Murthy was forced out, but it’s really hard sticking around when you weren’t the one chosen and you have Intel making you an offer to be the potential number two.”

In any case, Renduchintala has made his decision and will now be under tremendous pressure to turn around a mobile business that lost a calamitous $4.21 billion in 2014.

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