Intel Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger retired effective Dec. 1, the chipmaker announced the morning of Monday, Dec. 2. The hole filled by Gelsinger’s abrupt exit will be filled by internal interim co-CEOs, current Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and Intel products CEO MJ Holthaus.
Gelsinger started with Intel in 1979. He was the tech giant’s first-ever chief technology officer in his initial tenure, which spanned 30 years. He took a 12-year hiatus from the chipmaker, during which time he served as president and chief operating officer of Dell EMC and CEO of VMWare. He returned to Intel as CEO in 2021 to help bring it back to prominence as the chip sector expanded.
“Pat helped launch and revitalize process manufacturing by investing in state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing, while working tirelessly to drive innovation throughout the company,” Intel Board Chair Frank Yeary said in a statement. “While we have made significant progress in regaining manufacturing competitiveness and building capabilities to be a world-class foundry, we know that we have much more work to do at the company and are committed to restoring investor confidence.”
Yeary will oversee the search for a permanent CEO to replace Gelsinger moving forward.
Gelsinger’s retirement comes a week after Intel finalized a nearly $8 billion CHIPS Act federal grant to fund factories in the U.S. However, that award was cut by more than $600 million after the company failed to meet initial promises and deadlines.
During Gelsinger’s four-year tenure as chief, Intel failed to regain major market share losses. The company also stalled out on significantly impacting artificial intelligence.
Intel’s stock fell nearly 50% since the start of 2024. Its tumultuous year was made worse when it reported a $16.6 billion loss in the third quarter, the largest in Intel’s history. The company has been in a downward spiral for years; its valuation has plummeted by hundreds of billions of dollars since 2000.
Intel’s struggles to regain dominance are sometimes compared to that of another once-great American company, Boeing.
“Intel, just like Boeing, spent two generations prioritizing short-term shareholder value and not investing in R&D, and it’s paying the price right now,” leadership expert Gautam Mukunda told Straight Arrow News in August 2024.
However, Intel’s fate isn’t just a problem for shareholders. U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing its turnaround story.
“The United States must have a leading-edge fab, right?,” Mukunda said. “It must. It is strategically critical that it have that. At the moment it doesn’t because Intel has not been able to keep up with TSMC, has not come close to being able to keep up with that.”
