The 63-year-old was appointed CEO of Intel in February 2021 having spent much of his career at the company, alongside stints at EMC and VMware.
With Gelsinger out, David Zinsner, Intel’s chief financial officer, and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, CEO of Intel Products, have been named interim co-CEOs while Intel’s board finds a permanent replacement.
Intel shares rose in the wake of the announcement.
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Gelsinger said: “Leading Intel has been the honour of my lifetime — this group of people is among the best and the brightest in the business, and I’m honoured to call each and every one a colleague.
“Today is, of course, bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career. I can look back with pride at all that we have accomplished together.”
Gelsinger has been at the forefront of a company looking to turn face following a recent period of economic gloom.
The now departed CEO was spearheading Intel’s mass cost-cutting efforts as it seeks to raise $10 billion, which included laying off 15% of its workforce, around 17,000 jobs.
Addressing Intel’s ongoing restructuring efforts in his retirement announcement, Gelsinger described 2024 as a “challenging year for all of us” but said the company made “tough but necessary decisions to position Intel for the current market dynamics.
“I am forever grateful for the many colleagues around the world who I have worked with as part of the Intel family,” he added.
Frank Yeary, independent chair of the board of Intel, now becomes interim executive chair during the period of transition.
“On behalf of the board, I want to thank [Gelsinger] for his many years of service and dedication to Intel across a long career in technology leadership,” Yeary said. “As a leader, Pat helped launch and revitalise process manufacturing by investing in state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing, while working tirelessly to drive innovation throughout the company.”
Zinsner and Holthaus said: “We are grateful for [Gelsinger]’s commitment to Intel over these many years as well as his leadership. We will redouble our commitment to Intel Products and meeting customer needs. With our product and process leadership progressing, we will be focused on driving returns on foundry investments.”
Zinsner joined Intel in January 2022 from Micron Technology, where he was executive vice president and CFO, having served in a variety of other leadership roles including president and chief operating officer at Affirmed Networks and SVP of finance and CFO at Analog Devices.
Holthaus, meanwhile, began her career with Intel nearly three decades ago. She leads the company’s group that encompasses its Client Computing Group (CCG), Data Centre and AI Group (DCAI) and Network and Edge Group (NEX).
Holthaus has held several other management and leadership roles at Intel, including chief revenue officer and general manager of the sales and marketing group, and lead of global CCG sales.
The news of Gelsinger’s departure comes a week after Qualcomm reportedly cooled its interest in acquiring Intel.
The US government also recently trimmed off some of Intel’s $8.5 billion in federal subsidies it was due to be awarded under the CHIPS Act.
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