Helen Chiang, Xbox's first-ever chief operating officer, has left Microsoft just three months after taking on the role. The news comes from a short internal memo by Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma, obtained by The Verge, which simply states that Chiang is leaving the company and thanks her for her years of service. No reason was given, and Xbox's VP of communications, Kari Perez, said the company doesn't discuss individual personnel matters. There's no successor yet either, so Chiang's duties will be split among other Xbox leaders for now, with Sharma promising more details on COO leadership once plans are finalized.

Chiang had been at Microsoft for around 21 years, starting in 2005 and moving to Xbox in 2007, where Sharma credits her with helping build Xbox Live. She later led Mojang and became corporate vice president of the Minecraft franchise in 2020. Sharma created the COO position in July as part of her reset of Xbox, and it came with end-to-end profit and loss responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. That same reset includes around 3,200 job cuts by the end of fiscal year 2027, with hundreds of jobs already gone. Losing the executive meant to hold the whole business together this early into the reset probably isn't the kind of stability Xbox was hoping for.

Update Oct 25th: A verified source familiar with the situation has told Eurogamer that Helen Chiang was "terminated for policy violations." This claim has not been independently verified.

Update Nov 3rd: Helen Chiang has since denied being "fired for a policy violation" in a recent LinkedIn post. She goes on to clarify more points about her departure. You can read her full post below.

Corsair Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRSR) ("Corsair" or the "Company"), a leading global provider of high-performance gear for gamers, streamers, content creators, PC builders and SIM driving enthusiasts, today announced that the planned CEO transition has taken effect. Andy Paul, Corsair's Founder and Chief Executive Officer, has officially retired from the Company and its Board of Directors, effective today. Thi La, formerly the Company's President and Chief Operating Officer, has assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer.

Originally announced in February 2025, the transition is part of a long-planned succession strategy approved by Corsair's Board of Directors. Ms. La steps into the CEO role after more than 14 years with Corsair, where she has held key executive positions in operations, product leadership, and strategic development.

Corsair Gaming, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRSR) ("Corsair" or the "Company"), a leading global provider and innovator of high-performance products for gamers, streamers, content-creators, and gaming PC builders, today announced the planned retirement of Andy Paul, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, from the company and its board effective July 1, 2025. As part of the planned transition, the board of directors appointed Thi La, currently Corsair's President and Chief Operating Officer, as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2025.

Ms. La, an experienced leader in the computer and gaming industries, joined Corsair in 2010, and played an instrumental role in growing Corsair from a $300 million company to where it is today. La oversaw the expansion of the company's product portfolio from a small range of DIY components, adding many gaming and streaming solutions to what is now a diverse gaming company with 30 different product lines. In December of 2021, La was appointed a member of Corsair's Board of Directors. She has served as Chief Operating Officer since August 2013, and President since January 2021. From May 2010 to August 2013, she held the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager of the gaming PC component unit. Before her tenure at Corsair, La was Vice President of Global Operations and IT at Opnext, Inc., and the North America Consumer PC Product Line Director at HP, responsible for over $3 billion in revenue. Ms. La holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University.

Cornelis Networks, a leading independent provider of intelligent, high-performance networking solutions, today announced the appointment of Lisa Spelman as its new chief executive officer (CEO), effective August 15. Spelman joins Cornelis from Intel Corporation, where she held executive leadership roles for more than two decades, including leading the company's core data center business. Spelman will succeed Philip Murphy, who will assume the role of president and chief operating officer (COO).

"Cornelis is unique in having the products, roadmap, and talent to help customers address this issue. I look forward to joining the team to bring their innovations to even more organizations around the globe."

Qualcomm Incorporated has announced the appointment of Akash Palkhiwala to the expanded role of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. In addition to his CFO responsibilities, as COO, he will now have oversight for the global go-to-market organization and operations, and IT. Palkhiwala's appointment will be effective immediately and he will continue to report directly to Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. "I'm pleased to expand Akash's CFO role to include that of Chief Operating Officer as Qualcomm executes on its growth and diversification strategy," said Cristiano Amon, president and CEO of Qualcomm. "Akash has played a key role in the execution of our business strategy as Qualcomm has expanded into new end markets, and is ideally positioned to further align the company's operations to capture future growth opportunities. I am thrilled to congratulate Akash on this expanded role."

Palkhiwala has served as Chief Financial Officer since 2019. Previously, he was Senior Vice President and finance lead for QCT, Qualcomm's semiconductor business. Palkhiwala joined Qualcomm in 2001, and during this time has held several finance leadership roles including Treasurer, Financial Planning & Analysis, and Corporate Development. Palkhiwala holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from L.D. College of Engineering in India and an M.B.A from the University of Maryland.

PC major Dell in its quarterly results call blamed Intel for cuts in its revenue forecast for 2019 (full year) sales. "Intel CPU shortages have worsened qtr-over-qtr, impacting our commercial PC and premium consumer PC Q4 forecasted shipments," said Dell COO Jeffrey Clarke. Intel's CPU shortages are caused due to demand in the PC and server markets significantly outpacing supply, and not because Intel is supplying below its capacity. The company increased its capex toward manufacturer by $1 billion YoY, retrofitting its manufacturing facilities to make 14 nm processors, all while juggling resources to execute its 10 nm rollout for high-volume mobile and high-margin server processors.

The company hasn't launched 10 nm desktop or HEDT processors, yet, and is reportedly preparing yet another 14 nm line of processors for these platforms, codenamed "Comet Lake." This microarchitecture has also seen a mobile rollout for mainstream mobile form-factors, while Intel focused 10 nm "Ice Lake" for ultraportables and ultra low-power form-factors. Intel executive VP for sales Michelle Johnston Holthaus recently wrote a letter to its customers (primarily companies like Dell,) informing them that despite their best efforts, demand continues to beat supply, and that they hadn't managed to solve their supply issues.

AMD today announced the latest step in the company's multi-year strategic transformation to deliver consistent growth and profitability by combining the company's previously separate business units, global operations and sales organizations to create a singular, market-focused organization responsible for all aspects of product strategy, product execution, sales and operations.

The new structure will be implemented on July 1 and will be led by Dr. Lisa Su (44) in her new role as AMD's Chief Operating Officer (COO), reporting to AMD President and Chief Executive Officer Rory Read (52).

Yahoo! Inc. announced today that Henrique de Castro has been hired as chief operating officer (COO). Reporting directly to Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, de Castro will be responsible for strategic and operational management of Yahoo!'s sales, operations, media and business development worldwide.

"Henrique is an incredibly accomplished and rigorous business leader, and I'm personally excited to have him join Yahoo!'s strong leadership team," said Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!. "His operational experience in Internet advertising and his proven success in structuring and scaling global organizations make him the perfect fit for Yahoo! as we propel the business to its next phase of growth."