Intel is in for another big change behind the scenes. In an unexpected move, Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, officially stepped down and left the company today, leaving the company to search for a replacement.
Gelsinger took over the CEO position at Intel around four years ago and kicked off a roadmap to regain chip market leadership, a plan that also involved spending billions on setting up new fabrication facilities to compete with the likes of TSMC and Samsung. Gelsinger officially resigned on the 1st of December, leaving before his original 5-year roadmap can be completed. During that time, Intel has been looking to speed up the pace of innovation, with a new node being utilised for CPUs each year.
Unfortunately, with the tech market shifting over to AI accelerating hardware, Intel has not managed to keep up with giants like Nvidia, which has dominated the AI hardware market and outpaced rivals over the last five years. With that said, Intel did recently get on board with AI, shipping the first Intel CPUs with AI-accelerating cores in 2023.
Following the news of Gelsinger's departure, Intel share prices rose by three percent, according to Reuters. The company's CFO, David Zinser, along with Michelle Jongston Holthaus, will take over as interim co-CEOs. A search committee is also now in place while Intel seeks out a new full-time CEO.
KitGuru Says: Intel will quickly replace these headlines, as the next generation of Intel Arc graphics cards are due to launch this month.