Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger retired on Sunday after a 40-year career at the company, amid recent missteps that have helped rivals dominate the once-dominant chip maker.
David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus have been named co-CEOs as the board searches for a new chief executive, the company said Monday.
Zinsner is executive vice president and chief financial officer at the company. Holthaus is the chief executive of Intel Products, which includes the company’s client computing and artificial intelligence groups.
Intel shares jumped 3.9% on Monday.
The 63-year-old executive said leading Intel was the honor of his lifetime.
“Today is certainly bittersweet because this company has been my life throughout my working career,” Gelsinger said in a statement. “I can look back with pride at what we have achieved together. This has been a challenging year for all of us as we have made difficult but necessary decisions to position Intel for current market dynamics.
Independent Chairman of the Board Frank Eyre will serve as interim executive chairman as the company searches for a new leader.
“On behalf of the board, I want to thank Pat for his many years of service and dedication to Intel during a long career in technology leadership,” Yeary said in a statement. “Pat spent his formative years at Intel, then returns in 2021 at a critical time for the company.”
In his statement, Yeary emphasized that the company knows it still has work to do to restore investor confidence and deliver on its product portfolio.
The company’s shares have fallen 49.7% so far this year and hit a 10-year low in September as Intel struggles to maintain competitiveness in the race to be the top artificial intelligence chip maker.
In November, Intel reported a massive third-quarter loss of $16.6 billion – far less than the $300 million net profit it reported in the year-ago period. Earlier this year, the company announced major cost-cutting efforts, including cutting 15,000 employees from its workforce through layoffs and voluntary agreements.
A new chief executive can increase confidence that the company can make a difference.
Gelsinger took the helm of Intel in February 2001 after leaving the Santa Clara, California-based company in 2009 to join Dell EMC and later serving as chief executive of VMware, a software and cloud computing company.
Gelsinger first joined Intel in 1979 at just 18 years old, having graduated from Lincoln Technical Institute with an associate’s degree. While working as a technician at Intel, Gelsinger earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Santa Clara University.
After working as a design engineer on new Intel microprocessors, earning eight patents, and managing the company’s product division, he became the company’s first Chief Technology Officer in 2001.
