Intel CEO and veteran Pat Gelsinger left the company on December 1 and is enjoying his retirement. A few years ago, Gelsinger was tasked with getting Intel back on track and was busy restructuring, so his departure came as a big surprise.

Surprise of the day: Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired. Yesterday the man ended his long career. Gelsinger is resigning from his position as CEO and resigning from the board.

Big surprise

The pension is a big surprise. Intel named Gelsinger CEO in January 2021 with a clear mission: to turn things around. Under Swan and his predecessors, Intel had transformed in ten years from a technology company into a behemoth dominated by money and inertia. Intel has not been able to maintain its role as a technology leader in the market and today leaves the lead to TSMC as the manufacturer of the most advanced chips and AMD as the developer of the most efficient (data center) CPUs.

Before becoming CEO, Gelsinger worked as a big boss at VMware for nine years and at Intel itself for thirty years. The man has a technical background and was considered by many to be the right choice for Intel.

Slow rotation

Gelsinger didn’t give up and set clear long-term goals: Intel had to become a technology leader again and concentrate on its core business. Products that strayed too far from the CPU focus were divested, resulting in 15,000 job losses as part of a restructuring this summer. You don’t just turn a tanker around, but Gelsinger seemed to have started the turnaround.

A key achievement of Gelsinger is the creation of Intel Foundry: a separate division within Intel focused on chip manufacturing. Gelsinger also secured $7.9 billion in American subsidies for the company, although this immediately meant that Intel couldn’t simply spin off the foundry arm entirely.

No technicians at the helm

Gelsinger’s mission at Intel is not yet over, and there have been no public indications beforehand that his departure is imminent. There is also no real successor. Intel will have to work with interim leadership again and choose co-CEOs. David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus receive this honor.

Intel seems to be repeating old bad habits. Zinsner is a CFO and had a career in the finance departments of Intel and Micron. Hosthaus will become CEO of Intel Products and previously held several leadership positions, including head of the sales, marketing and communications group. Neither has a technical background, although for Gelsinger the lack of technical expertise in the C-suite is one of the reasons for Intel’s current state.

The market is happy

It is all the more surprising that the stock markets are reacting cautiously positively to the news. If the ship takes on water and a promising and experienced captain still leaves in the lifeboat after a few maneuvers, that is rarely a good sign. On the other hand, AMD has actually gained market share, even during Gelsinger’s reign. Investors seem to suspect that diverse leadership can deliver faster results.