SAN FRANCISCO, March 31 (Reuters) - In his first remarks

as Intel's ( INTC ) new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan on Monday outlined a

leaner version of the iconic American chipmaker in which he

would work directly with engineers to develop new products based

on feedback from the company's customers.

Tan earlier this month took over at Intel ( INTC ), which once

enjoyed more than 90% market share in both personal computers

and data center servers but has lost out to rivals such as

Nvidia ( NVDA ) in recent years.

Speaking at Intel's ( INTC ) "Vision" event in Las Vegas, where the

company was set to discuss products with its customers, Tan said

he spent his first weeks on the job meeting with customers and

said the company had fallen far short of their expectations.

"Please be brutally honest with us. This is what I expect of

you this week, and I believe harsh feedback is most valuable,"

Tan said.

Reuters has previously reported that Tan plans to eliminate

what he views as a slow-moving and bloated middle

management layer.

On Monday, Tan repeatedly promised to give more power to

Intel's ( INTC ) engineers, saying that new ideas have not had "room to

develop and grow" at Intel ( INTC ) in recent years.

"We're going to really drive some new ideas, giving

engineers freedom to innovate from within," Tan said. "My

weekend is usually packed with a lot of engineers and

architects. They have some brilliant ideas, they want to change

the world, and that's where I get excited to work closely with

them."

Tan said his primary focus will be on recruiting and keeping

engineers.

"We lost quite a bit of talent. That's my top priority, to

recruit some of the best talent in the industry to come back and

then to rejoin or join Intel ( INTC )," Tan said.