Pat Gelsinger, CEO of Intel, has been forced out of the chipmaking giant less than four years after taking the top job at the company. The Intel board told Gelsinger he could retire or be removed, and he chose to step down, news agency Reuters reported, quoting sources. Gelsinger reporedly resigned on December 1.
Gelsinger, 63, said his exit was “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,” he said in a statement.
Gelsinger also took to LinkedIn on Monday to issue his first public reaction since his abrupt exit.
“Leading Intel Corporation has been the honor of my lifetime. I am forever grateful for the many colleagues around the world who I have worked with as part of the Intel family and can look back with pride at all that we have accomplished together. Thank you all!,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
What happened at the Intel board meeting?
At the meeting last week, the Intel board of directors made the hard talk to Gelsinger, telling him how they felt that his costly and ambitious plan to turn Intel around was not working and the progress of change was not fast enough, Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Intel names two interim co-CEOs
Pat Gelsinger hands control to two lieutenants, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus,, as the faltering American chipmaking icon searches for a permanent replacement.
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Intel, which was founded in 1968, has lost the tag of the company that makes the fastest and smallest computer chips to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, which makes chips for Intel rivals such as Nvidia.
Intel’s market value has shrunk to more than 30 times smaller than Jensen Huang’s Nvidia, the leader in artificial intelligence chips.
(With inputs from Reuters and AP)