‘This Company Has Been My Life’: Intel CEO Retires, Reportedly Forced Out

Intel announced on Monday that CEO Pat Gelsinger, 63, retired effective December 1. Gelsinger also stepped down from the board of directors on the same date. He had been with Intel for over three decades including four years as CEO.

The abrupt announcement further states that Intel’s Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and Intel Products CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus are in charge as interim co-CEOs while the company’s board searches for Gelsinger’s replacement. Frank Yeary, a longtime board member who joined in March 2009, is now the interim executive chair of the board.

According to Bloomberg, Gelsinger was forced out after the board lost confidence in his plans to improve Intel. He was reportedly given the option to retire or be removed, and he chose retirement.

Since Gelsinger took over in February 2021, Intel’s stock has dropped by about 60%. In October, Intel posted a quarterly loss of $16.6 billion, the biggest net loss in its 56-year history. Its revenue for the quarter was $13.3 billion, down 6% year-over-year.

Gelsinger publicly called the news of his retirement “bittersweet” and said that Intel has had a “challenging year.” He’s worked at the chipmaker for 30 years, rising through the ranks to become the company’s first chief technology officer. He left in 2009 to become president and chief operating officer of Dell, before returning to Intel in 2021.

“Today is, of course, bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career,” Gelsinger stated in a press release. “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.”

^{Pat Gelsinger. Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images}

Intel took steps to become profitable and competitive during Gelsinger’s tenure as CEO, including committing to sell two-thirds of its real estate by the end of 2024.

However, Intel still faces heavy competition from other chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD. Intel’s GPU market share went from 2% in the second quarter of 2023 to effectively 0% in the second quarter of 2024 while Nvidia’s market share rose from 80% in Q2 2023 to 88% in Q2 2024.

Intel also has “yet to fully benefit from powerful trends, like AI,” Gelsinger wrote in August. At the time, Intel announced plans to lay off 15,000 employees or 15% of its workforce.

“Our costs are too high, our margins are too low,” Gelsinger wrote then.

Intel is down by over 47% year-to-date at the time of writing.

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