Gelsinger began his career at Intel, joining the firm in 1979 at just 18 years old. He’d go on to become an impressive engineer, notably as the lead architect of Intel’s i486 microprocessor, aka the 80486 — the last microprocessor before the original Pentium.
From engineer to executive, Gelsinger eventually became Intel’s chief technology officer under the tutelage of former CEO Andrew Grove. He oversaw the chip giant’s adoption of emerging technologies and standards such as Wi-Fi, USB, and the original Xeon processors.
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Gelsinger's latest role as CEO may have taken some of the gloss away from his engineering efforts. He returned to Intel in 2021 after leaving nearly a decade earlier to lead VMware with his reign at Intel one of course correction.
Despite cutting costs across the board, reducing 15% of its workforce and securing billions of dollars in federal subsidies, it didn’t stop Intel from posting a substantial loss back in November.
Bob Rogers, was formerly the chief data scientist for IT transformation in Intel’s data centre group. He said Gelsinger had done a “great job” bringing a more balanced view of the world to Intel.
“Intel has been so successful for so long, it became a bit myopic and internally focused. Pat's perspective really broadened Intel's horizons,” said Rogers, now CEO of Oii.ai, a supply chain AI company.
Intel’s woes have been largely compounded by its failure to capitalise on the AI market, a position encapsulated by former CEO Bob Swan’s view from 2017 where he said generative AI wouldn’t be a short-term success — at the time when Intel opted not to invest in what was then a unknown nonprofit called OpenAI.
“It will take time for Intel to establish its place in the new AI computing marketplace, although I have no doubts it will,” Rogers said.
Dan Pitt, president of Palo Alto Innovation Advisors, told Capacity that Gelsinger will go down as one of the most competent and decent corporate tech executives in the history of Silicon Valley.
“I figured that if anyone could rescue the company he inherited when he took the CEO role it would be Pat,” Pitt said. “Unfortunately, in its current form Intel does not have the capital structure to become both a product company and a foundry so the Board is going to have to take bold action to chart its future.”
In the meantime, Gelsinger’s CEO role has gone to David Zinsner, Intel’s chief financial officer, and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, CEO of Intel Products, who were named as interim co-CEOs while the board finds a permanent replacement.
While Gelsinger departed, he said in a goodbye post that he can “look back with pride” at the company’s accomplishments, though it’ll have to continue on its journey of revitalisation without him.
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