Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announces his retirement: 'Leading Intel was the honor of my life'

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has announced his retirement, effective immediately. The CEO of Intel who was tasked with leading the company to resurgence on the ever-challenging chip market has stepped aside and a permanent replacement has not yet been found.
Gelsinger describes his decision as "the honor of my life": "This group of people are among the best in the business and I am honored to call them all colleagues." "Today, of course is bittersweet, as this company was my life for most of my career. I can look back and be proud of all we have achieved together.

"It's been a challenging and difficult year for us all as we made the tough but necessary decision to position Intel in the current market dynamics." I will always be grateful to the many colleagues I have worked with around the world as part of the Intel Family."

Gelsinger's retirement marks the end of a long and successful career with Intel, where he began as an engineer before leading the development of top-notch chips. He left Intel to become the CEO of VMware, before returning to Intel.

Gelsinger replaced the then CEO Bob Swan in 2021. Swan was in the role after being appointed as interim CEO, then operating CEO when Intel couldn't find a suitable successor.

Intel's board could also be concerned about the lack of candidates for top jobs. Intel has named two members of its current leadership to take the reins: Michelle Johnston Holthaus is the head of the Client Computing Group and David Zinsner is the chief financial officer.

Holthaus was also given a new position as CEO of Intel Products. This role covers all product-facing groups within Intel. It seems Holthaus is effectively running the show.

Intel is facing a very difficult market, with AMD and ARM-based designs as well. The timing of a CEO search could not have been worse. Would it have been in this situation had everything gone well and the recovery plan worked?

The simple answer is that it won't. Many thought that Gelsinger was the best choice for the job, as he had an engineering background and could turn around Intel's struggling manufacturing division. Intel is still in a difficult position, even though the recovery plan hasn't paid off yet.

Zinsner, Holthaus and others say in a statement that they are grateful for Pat's dedication to Intel during these many years, as well as for his leadership. "We will redouble commitment to Intel Products, and meeting customer requirements. We will continue to focus on maximizing returns on our foundry investments as we progress in product and process leadership.

Intel faces a wide range of challenges that go beyond the original chipmaker. Intel, for example, is involved in a fight to defend x86 versus Arm. It is also central to US policy that aims to bring some chipmaking back home.

Gelsinger's recovery plan was never completed, and it is a shame. It was most ambitious when it would have seen Intel compete with TSMC to win the top chipmaking title and x86 be proven as top dog. As it stands, he leaves a company that has more questions than ever about its future.