According to the information forwarded by renowned chipmaker Intel Corp. on Monday, Sean Maloney - the 53-year-old Briton who is the Executive VP and a general manager of the Intel Architecture Group - suffered a stroke at his home late last week, and would likely take medical leave that might last several months.

In its statement, Intel said that Maloney, one of the likely heirs of the Intel chief executive Paul Otellini, will resume all his regular duties after he fully recuperates; and added that the prognosis for Maloney’s full recovery is “excellent.”

Intel also specified that till the time Maloney resumes his duties, the tasks managed by him will be handled by Dadi Perlmutter, who is another Executive VP in the Intel Architecture Group and he normally focuses primarily on technology.

Maloney, who earlier served as Intel’s sales head, has held a series of positions at the company over the years; and is widely-known for his contribution to Intel’s strategic moves into the arena related with chips for mobile computing and wireless networking.

Maloney was among the few company top executives who were assigned additional responsibilities after the September-last-year reorganization of the chipmaker – he was named General Manager in charge of business operations of the Intel Architecture Group that basically oversees all the major products of the company.