Intel CEO and veteran Pat Gelsinger has left the company as of Dec. 1 and is enjoying his retirement. Gelsinger was tasked with putting Intel back on course several years ago and was in the midst of restructuring, so the departure comes as a big surprise.
Surprise of the day: Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is retiring. Yesterday, the man marked the end of his long career. Gelsinger is resigning the role of CEO and stepping down from the board of directors.
Big surprise
The retirement comes as a big surprise. Intel appointed Gelsinger as CEO in January 2021, with a clear mission: to get the ship back on course. Under Swan and his predecessors, Intel had evolved in a decade from a company of tech giants to one where money and inertia ruled. Intel could not hold on to its role as a technology leader in the market, and today leaves TSMC ahead of it as the manufacturer of the most advanced chips, and AMD as the designer of the most efficient (data center) CPUs.
Before his appointment as CEO, Gelsinger spent nine years at VMware as a big boss, and before that, 30 years at Intel itself. The man has an engineering background and was seen by many as the right choice for Intel.
Slow turn
Gelsinger did not sit back and set clear long-term goals: Intel needed to become a technology leader again, and would focus on its core business. Products that were too far from the CPU focus were divested, and this summer , as a result, 15,000 jobs disappeared in a reorganization. You don’t turn a tanker, but Gelsinger seemed to have turned the corner.
A major achievement of Gelsinger is the creation of Intel Foundry: a separate division within Intel focused on chip manufacturing. Furthermore, Gelsinger brought in 7.9 billion in U.S. grants for the company, although that immediately meant that Intel may not just spin off the Foundry branch altogether.
No techies at the helm
Gelsinger’s mission at Intel is not yet complete, and there were no prior public indications that his departure was imminent. No real successor is ready either. Intel has to get back to interim leadership and is opting for co-CEOs. David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus get that honor.
Intel thus seems to be repeating old bad habits. Zinsner is CFO and made a career in the finance department at Intel and Micron. Hosthaus will be CEO of Intel Products and previously held some management positions, including manager of the sales, marketing and communications group. Neither has a technical background, although for Gelsinger, the C-suite’s lack of technical baggage is just one of the reasons for Intel’s state today.
The market is happy
It is therefore all the more surprising that the stock markets react cautiously positively to the news. However, when the ship makes water and a promising and experienced captain still leaves with the lifeboat after a few maneuvers, it is rarely a good sign. On the other hand, AMD did gain market share, even during Gelsinger’s reign. Investors evidently suspect that different leadership can produce faster results.