Intel has been without a long-term CEO since June, when Brian Krzanich stepped down after violating policy. Over the last 50 years, Intel has exclusively hired its CEOs from in-house but that could change this year as the company is reportedly taking meetings with a few outside of the company.

Currently Intel's CFO, Robert Swan, is taking the reigns as interim CEO but the company is narrowing down its choices for a permanent leader. According to Bloomberg, the company is considering taking on an outsider for the CEO position for the first time, breaking away from tradition. Currently, Sanjay Jha and Anand Chandrasekher are on the list of candidates, both of which have experience at Qualcomm. Jha also previously headed up Globalfoundries before leaving in March this year. Meanwhile Chandrasekher previously worked on Intel's Centrino program but currently does not work at the company.

There are some current Intel executives also being considered for the CEO role. Navin Shenoy, who currently runs Intel's data center group and Murthy Renduchintala, who acts as the company's Chief Engineering Officer, have also reportedly had meetings about the role.

Whoever does end up in the role will require strong leadership abilities as Intel has some tough years ahead of it. AMD is back on the upswing and Intel's dominance is being challenged. With that said, Intel is far from hurting financially, as the company continues to rake in plenty of cash quarter after quarter.

KitGuru Says: Krzanich had a fairly swift exit from Intel earlier this year in a move that not many saw coming. It will certainly be interesting to see who will lead Intel next, whether its an in-house hire or someone coming in from the outside. 

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