IntelAnnounceCEO Pat Gelsinger has retired and resigned as chairman. Intel Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and Client Computing Group Director Michelle Johnston Holthaus will serve as interim co-CEOs, and Intel said it will continue to seek a suitable new CEO.
During his tenure as co-CEO, David Zinsner will continue to serve as Intel's CFO, while Michelle Johnston Holthaus will continue to serve as director of Intel's Client Computing Group and concurrently serve in Intel's newly established product chief, overseeing the Client Computing Group (CCG), Data Center and Artificial Intelligence Group (DCAI), and Network and Edge Computing Group (NEX) product businesses. Frank Yeary, an independent director of Intel's board of directors, will serve as interim executive chairman during this period.
In addition, the management structure of Intel's foundry business remains unchanged. Dr. Naga Chandrasekaran, who joined Intel from Micron in July this year, will continue to serve as General Manager of Foundry Manufacturing Business and Supply Chain Management, and will also serve as Global Chief Operations Officer.
Intel thanked Pat Gelsinger for returning as CEO in 2021, helping Intel regain its competitiveness in the market and becoming an important driving force in the layout of the important wafer foundry role in the market.
After Pat Gelsinger retires, Intel will continue to seek a suitable new CEO, and David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus will serve as interim co-CEOs. They are expected to simplify and enhance Intel's current product portfolio and strengthen Intel's manufacturing production capabilities while optimizing operating costs and resources.
The market believes that Intel's sudden announcement of Pat Gelsinger's retirement is related to Intel's recent performance being lower than expected. In addition, the 13th and 14th generation Core series processors released in recent years have been unable to resolve issues through updates due to voltage algorithms, and can only be processed through warranty replacement (RMA). This year's laptop processors, codenamed "Lunar Lake" and known as the Core Ultra 200V series, were originally expected to compete with Apple's Apple Silicon processors, but ultimately returned to the original design due to cost considerations. In addition, the desktop processors codenamed "Arrow Lake" series, although they improved power consumption and other issues, failed to improve overall performance. Therefore, they were criticized by gamers, which significantly affected market confidence.
Therefore, the next CEO selection will inevitably have to face the market's current expectations for Intel, while also having to deal with the pressure created by Intel's current market situation.
The following are my personal views:
Although many people attribute Intel's recent development difficulties to Pat Gelsinger's incorrect leadership, Pat Gelsinger has worked at Intel for more than 30 years. He promoted the 1989 processor in 80486 and was promoted to Intel's Chief Technology Officer in 2001. He led Intel's product layout in Wi-Fi, USB, Intel Core series processors and Intel Xeon series server processors. In fact, Pat Gelsinger has a good understanding of Intel's development needs.
Especially after Pat Gelsinger returned to Intel as CEO in February 2021 and significantly promoted the IDM 2 reform, Intel further expanded its processor foundry business. At the same time, it also tried to catch up with TSMC and Samsung in processor process technology, and even proposed to build processors by adopting the advanced processes of competitors. For example, the laptop processor code-named "Lunar Lake" and the Core Ultra 2.0V series are produced using TSMC's process.
However, Intel needs to cooperate with many OEMs and ODMs, so many product designs still need to consider the needs of partners. For example, the integrated memory design originally used in "Lunar Lake" was eventually compromised and the new laptop processor scheduled to be launched in January 2025 and subsequent designs will abandon this architecture.
From an overall development perspective, Intel's current predicament lies more in its long-standing development "burdens," such as the aforementioned "constraints" resulting from its collaborations with numerous OEMs and ODMs. While Pat Gelsinger's return as CEO has indeed driven numerous reforms, they clearly cannot fully reverse Intel's current development limitations.
