Intel CEO steps down as chipmaker falters, lays off staff

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has stepped down after a three-year stint leading the company, the chipmaker announced Monday. 

Two senior executives, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, will take over as Intel’s interim co-CEOs amid the search for a new chief executive. 

“Leading Intel has been the honor of my lifetime – this group of people is among the best and the brightest in the business, and I’m honored to call each and every one a colleague,” Gelsinger said in a statement.  

“Today is, of course, bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career,” he added. “I can look back with pride at all that we have accomplished together.”  

Gelsinger acknowledged that it has been a “challenging year” for the company, which has struggled to compete with rival chipmakers like Nvidia amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company announced in August that it would cut 15 percent of its workforce, or about 15,000 jobs.

Nvidia replaced Intel in the Dow Jones Industrial Average last month in a significant blow to the legacy chipmaker. It had been one of the 30 stocks in the Dow for more than two decades. 

“While we have made significant progress in regaining manufacturing competitiveness and building the capabilities to be a world-class foundry, we know that we have much more work to do at the company and are committed to restoring investor confidence,” Frank Yeary, the chair of Intel's board, said in a statement Monday. 

Gelsinger joined Intel in 1979 and served as the company’s first chief technology officer. After a decade away from the chipmaker, he returned in 2021 to take the helm from Bob Swan, who led Intel for two years.