Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has retired from the company and stepped down from its board of directors just as the company is in the middle of trying to execute a turnaround plan.
Intel chief financial officer David Zinsner and Intel Products CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus are serving as interim co-CEOs while the board searches for Gelsinger’s replacement, the company said in a statement.
Frank Yeary, independent chair of the board of Intel, is to serve as interim executive chair, the company said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
Gelsinger’s departure is hitting at a tumultuous time for the US chipmaker. Once the industry leader in computer processors, the company is now working to preserve cash to fund a turnaround plan — one Gelsinger called the “most audacious rebuilding plan” in corporate history.
The company has fallen out of investor favor amid a shift in the semiconductor industry toward artificial intelligence (AI) hardware. Companies are spending on computers built around accelerator chips for AI, an area where Intel’s offerings have barely made a dent.
“While we have made significant progress in regaining manufacturing competitiveness and building the 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 said in a news release. “As a board, we know first and foremost that we must put our product group at the center of all we do. Our customers demand this from us, and we will deliver for them.”
Shares of the chipmaker jumped more than 4 percent in premarket trading, but ended the day down 0.5 percent. They have lost more than half of their value this year.
Gelsinger started at Intel in 1979 and was its first chief technology officer. He returned to the company as chief executive in 2021 to spearhead a transformation of the chipmaker, which was once at the helm of the US semiconductor industry, but ceded its manufacturing lead to players like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電).
Gelsinger said his exit was “bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career,” he said in a statement. “I can look back with pride at all that we have accomplished together. It has been a challenging year for all of us as we have made tough but necessary decisions to position Intel for the current market dynamics.”
Gelsinger's departure comes as Intel’s financial woes have been piling up. The company posted a US$16.6 billion loss and halted its dividend in the most recent quarter. He announced plans in August to slash 15 percent of Intel's huge workforce — or about 15,000 jobs — as part of cost-cutting efforts to save US$10 billion next year.
Nvidia Corp’s ascendance, meanwhile, was cemented earlier this month when it replaced Intel on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Additional reporting by Reuters and AP
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