Intel chief executive Pat Gelsinger has been forced out less than four years after taking the helm of the company, handing control to two lieutenants as the faltering United States chipmaking icon searches for a permanent replacement.
Gelsinger resigned on December 1, according to a statement from the company on Monday. The resignation came after a board meeting last week during which directors felt Gelsinger’s costly and ambitious plan to turn Intel around was not working and the progress of change was not fast enough, the Reuters news agency reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The board told Gelsinger he could retire or be removed, and he chose to step down, according to the source.
His departure comes well before the completion of his four-year roadmap to restore the company’s lead in making the fastest and smallest computer chips, a crown it lost to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, which makes chips for Intel rivals such as Nvidia.
Under Gelsinger’s watch, Intel, which was founded in 1968 and for decades formed the bedrock of Silicon Valley’s global dominance in chips, has withered to a market value more than 30 times smaller than Nvidia, the leader in artificial intelligence chips.
Earlier this month, Nvidia replaced Intel on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Gelsinger, 63, has assured investors and US officials, who are subsidising Intel’s turnaround, that his manufacturing plans remain on track. The full results, however, will not be known until next year, when the company aims to bring a flagship laptop chip back into its factories.
Two company executives, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, will act as interim co-CEOs while the company searches for a replacement for Gelsinger, who has also stepped down from the board, Intel said on Monday.
Gelsinger started at Intel in 1979 and was its first chief technology officer. He returned to the company as chief executive in 2021.
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