By Angela Chen 

Intel Corp. said Thursday that President Renée James is stepping down to pursue a chief executive role outside the company.

Ms. James will stay at the Silicon Valley chip maker until January. No successor has been named.

Ms. James has spent 28 years at Intel, including time as an assistant to former Chief Executive Andy Grove. She became president in 2013 after leading its software segment, becoming the highest-ranking woman ever at Intel.

Ms. James led Intel's software operations, helping to spearhead some of Intel's biggest acquisitions, but was also closely associated with some high-profile flops, including an ill-fated Web hosting business and an Intel alliance with Nokia Corp. to develop a mobile operating system that has failed to gain ground against Android.

Also in January, Intel Capital President Arvind Sodhani will retire. He will be succeeded by president of mergers and acquisitions, Wendell Brooks, who will continue in his current role.

"We are aligning our leadership structure to continue to become more efficient in order to deliver the benefits of our strategy even faster than before," Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said.

Josh Walden, who is general manager of the New Technology Group, will now lead all product and research teams related to new technology categories, such as wearable and interactive computing devices. Devices Group General Manager Aicha Evans has joined the management committee.

Executives Hermann Eul and Mike Bell also will leave the company after it reorganizes.

The Silicon Valley giant has been hurt by sagging PC sales. In its most recent quarter, the company reported that net income for the period grew just 3% on overall revenue that was flat with the year-earlier period.

Last month, Intel agreed to buy Altera Corp. for about $16.7 billion in cash, its biggest deal ever.

Shares of Intel are down about 15% this year.

Write to Angela Chen at angela.chen@dowjones.com

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