After a search for a new chief executive officer that lasted more than three months, Intel Corp. has decided Lip-Bu Tan is the best choice to salvage the company’s future. He’ll take up the most difficult job in the chip business, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday evening. I think you could take it a step further — this may well be the toughest gig in US tech, full stop.

In a letter, Tan told his new subordinates that they were “in many ways” the “founders” of “The New Intel” — some motivational speaking to give the endeavor the feeling of a fresh start. What exactly the “new” Intel will look like is not yet clear. Tan wrote of his belief that Intel should lead at both product design and manufacture, a hint — in my reading at least — that keeping the company intact, rather than splitting off its foundry business, would be the way forward.