Ciena has appointed Marc Graff as its new CFO.

Graff joins the networking giant from FPGA chip company Altera where he also served as CFO and helped execute the recent sale from Intel to private equity firm Silver Lake. Graff also previously served as CFO and COO for Intel’s data center and AI group.

Graff replaces James Moylan, who is retiring at the end of August. The new hire will report directly to Ciena CEO Gary Smith.

“[Graff] brings extensive financial expertise and industry knowledge, particularly in data center-related technologies, to Ciena at a pivotal time as AI and cloud computing fuel growing demand for high-speed connectivity," Smith commented on the move. “His leadership of our global financial strategy and operations will be instrumental in driving our continued growth and delivering value for our shareholders.”

Graff expressed excitement to “drive shareholder value” as Ciena looks to navigate the opportunities presented by AI and data center workloads requiring greater high-speed connectivity.