Intel CEO Gelsinger retires; Zinsner and Johnston Holthaus named interim co-CEOs
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired, the struggling chipmaker said in a surprise announcement Monday.
Two company executives, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, will serve as interim co-CEOs while the company searches for a replacement for Gelsinger, who also stepped down from the company’s board of directors.
The departure of Gelsinger, whose career spanned more than forty years, underlines the unrest at Intel. The company was once a dominant force in the semiconductor industry, but has been overshadowed by rival Nvidia, which cornered the market for chips running artificial intelligence systems.
Gelsinger joined Intel in 1979 and served as its first Chief Technology Officer. He returned to the company as CEO in 2021.
Gelsinger said his departure was “bittersweet as this company has been my life for most of my career,” he said in a statement. “I can look back with pride on everything we have achieved together. It has been a challenging year for all of us as we made difficult but necessary decisions to position Intel for today’s market dynamics.”
Zinsner is executive vice president and chief financial officer at Intel. Holthaus was named to the newly created position of CEO of Intel Products, which includes the client computing, data center and AI groups.
Frank Yeary, independent chairman of Intel’s board of directors, will become interim chairman.
“Pat spent his formative years at Intel and then returned at a pivotal time for the company in 2021,” Yeary said in a statement. “As a leader, Pat helped launch and revitalize process manufacturing by investing in state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing, while working tirelessly to drive innovation across the company.”
Gelsinger’s departure comes at a time when Intel’s financial problems are piling up. The company posted a $16.6 billion loss and canceled its dividend in the most recent quarter, and its shares have fallen about 60% since he took over as CEO. Gelsinger announced plans in August to cut 15% of its massive workforce – or about 15,000 jobs – as part of cost-cutting efforts to save $10 billion by 2025.
Nvidia’s rise, meanwhile, was strengthened earlier this month Replace Intel on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
Unlike some rivals, Intel produces chips in addition to designing them. Under Gelsinger, the company has worked to build its foundry business that makes semiconductors in the U.S. designed by other companies, in an effort to compete with rivals such as market leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. or TSMC.
Intel has taken advantage of this tens of billions of dollars which the government has promised to support construction of American chip foundries and reducing dependence on Asian suppliers, which Washington sees as a security weakness.
After taking over as CEO, Gelsinger unveiled plans to build a $20 billion chip manufacturing facility in central Ohioand billions more invested in expansion Europewhere leaders were also concerned about dependence on Asia.
The Biden administration had said it would give Intel up to $8.5 billion in federal funding for semiconductor factories across the country, but last week it has trimmed that amountsaid three people familiar with the grant who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company rose less than 1% in afternoon trading after rising more than 5% earlier in the day.
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AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan contributed to this report from London.