Intel (INTC) CEO Pat Gelsinger suddenly retired from his chief executive role at the chipmaker over the weekend. Gelsinger began working at Intel as its chief architect in the 1980s, going on to act as the company’s chief technology officer from 2001 to 2009, before leaving to lead VMware and later returning to Intel in 2021.
Intel’s CFO David Zinser and CEO of Intel Products Michelle Johnston Holthaus have been named as interim co-CEOs as the tech company searches for a replacement. Despite Intel consistently being a laggard in the AI chip landscape, Gelsinger was in the middle of enacting his turnaround plan before his abrupt departure.
“I would say that he was flawless in terms of who he got rid of and then who he brought on. And now that he’s gone, I think that he’s done a lot to get their manufacturing back up to the level of the competitor, which essentially is Taiwan Semi (TSM),” Citi head of US semiconductor research Christopher Danely tells Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton on Market Domination.
“And as it stands right now, if they continue to hit their marks about a year from now, they will draw even. The problem is this insistence on the foundry business,” Danely continues. “We think there’s a very, very slim chance that it’s ever going to work for Intel. Most of the people we talk to in the semi-industry know that, realize that Intel’s been at it for a long, long time. And so we think that they should get out of the foundry.”
Danely goes on to comment on the demand for Intel’s chip manufacturing as it attempts to scale up its capacity.
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This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.
