Intel Corporation is a global leader in semiconductor innovation, driving advancements in computing, connectivity, and artificial intelligence. With a legacy of powering the world’s technology infrastructure, Intel designs and manufactures essential hardware and software solutions that enable everything from cloud data centers and PCs to edge devices and next-generation AI systems.
Joel Polanco, Senior Product Manager at Intel, is an enterprise product leader specializing in edge computing, IoT, and AI-driven solutions across global retail, industrial, and gaming markets. With a focus on customer discovery and scalable innovation, he has led major product turnarounds, forged key partnerships, and delivered measurable business impact
Career Journey: Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career, especially one that shaped your leadership approach at your current company?
After five years of working in manufacturing, I realized that I wanted to get experience in other parts of Intel. After six months of rejections, I accepted a position in global marketing of all places. It was the polar opposite from manufacturing in just about every category of work. Making that shift taught me that anyone could make a tough career transition if they had the patience and grit to keep interviewing.
Career Path: What initially brought you to this specific career path, and how did it lead to your role in this company?
After global marketing, I developed into a series of data science roles and eventually managed a data science team focused on sales and marketing analytics. As a part of that role, I spent a lot of time setting up engagements for my team, ensuring that clear success metrics were defined upfront, usable data was present, and gathering requirements from users. I naturally moved into customer-facing product management roles as a result of those mid-career data science roles.
Company Differentiation: What makes your company stand out from competitors in the market? Can you share an example that highlights this?
My company stands out because of its strong product-market fit in traditional computing markets. Like most companies, it has its challenges but one thing that has remained is its presence and affinity in central processing (CPU) markets.
Product Innovation: Are you working on any exciting new products or projects? How do you think this innovation will positively impact your customers?
We are working on “heterogeneous computing,” which is a fancy way of saying we can run different types of software applications on a single chip. Where other companies focus on specific types of chips, we offer ways to run multiple applications, both AI and Non-AI, on a single SOC, or system-on-chip which lowers overall cost for our customers.
Success Insight: What was the tipping point for your company’s recent success? Was there a change in strategy or approach that others might learn from?
The push to engrain AI on device, in personal computers, by Microsoft pushed our industry in a new direction and as a result, pushed our product roadmap to shift. We look to extend this shift into other markets, such as edge computing, which is my focus.
Challenges and Lessons: Can you share a significant challenge your company faced and how you overcame it? What key lesson did that experience provide?
The story is still being written but the biggest challenge at Intel has been developing a new business model. Historically, we were an integrated device manufacturer or IDM, which means we manufactured our own chips. The industry has shifted to a “fabless” model where chip companies are designing their chips to be manufactured or “fabbed” at contract manufacturers who specializes in manufacturing. We are disrupting our historical business by splitting the company into two distinct divisions, product and foundry (manufacturing).
Leadership Impact: In just a few words, what differentiates your leadership role from others in the company? What impact does this have on company culture or product success?
My role differs from other roles because it is industry-specific. I focus on the retail segment in the edge computing market. Most other roles are horizontal and do not have a specific vertical focus.
To learn more about Joel Polanco or Intel, visit the website here.
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