In a blow to Intel’s turnaround plans, CEO Pat Gelsinger has resigned from the big chip maker without a permanent successor in place.
Gelsinger spent more than 40 years at the company, rising through the ranks as an engineer. He seemed like the perfect CEO when he was appointed. But
Gelsinger is retiring effective immediately, and he will be replaced on an interim basis by David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus as co-CEOs. Zinsner is the CFO of Intel, while Holthaus is the general manager of Intel’s client computing group.
Holthaus will also serve in the newly created job of CEO of Intel Products, which includes Intel’s consumer business as well as its data center, AI, network, and edge businesses.
Frank Yeary, an independent board member and chairman of the board of Intel, will become interim executive chair during the transition period. The board has formed a search committee and will work to find a permanent successor to Gelsinger.
“Leading Intel has been the honor of my lifetime – this group of people is among the best and the brightest in the business, and I’m honored to call each and every one a colleague,” said Gelsinger, in a statement. “Today is, of course, bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career. 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. I am forever grateful for the many colleagues around the world who I have worked with as part of the Intel family.”
Gelsinger joined Intel when he was 18 and he became the lead architect of Intel’s highly successful 80486 processor, which debuted in 1989. At age 32, he was named as a vice president — the youngest VP in the company’s storied history. He was named CTO in 2001 and often delivered keynote speeches at Intel’s developer forum.
In 2009, he left Intel to join EMC as president, and he was appointed CEO of VMware in 2012.
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