Intel on Wednesday confirmed that technology industry leader and CEO of enterprise software major VMware Pat Gelsinger will take over as the new CEO as Bob Swan moved on, amid the chip maker registering poor business last year.
Gelsinger will step into the Intel CEO’s role from February 15, and will also join the Intel board of directors upon assuming the role.
The company stressed that the announcement is unrelated to Intel’s 2020 financial performance.
CNBC, which first broke the story, reported that “during Swan’s tenure, Intel has suffered blows from competitors. Over the summer, Intel reported that its latest generation chips would be delayed while AMD’s were already shipping inside laptops”.
Apple in last fall announced to break up its 15-year association with Intel for Macs, going for its own M1 Silicon chip and the new Macs are already out in the market.
Intel’s stock was up more than 13 per cent while VMWare’s stock went down nearly 5 per cent after the news broke.
“After careful consideration, the board concluded that now is the right time to make this leadership change to draw on Pat’s technology and engineering expertise during this critical period of transformation at Intel,” said Omar Ishrak, independent chairman of the Intel board.
Swan was named CEO in January 2019 after serving as interim CEO for seven months.
Gelsinger has served as CEO of VMware since September 2012. Prior to becoming CEO of VMware, he was President and Chief Operating Officer, EMC Information Infrastructure Products at EMC.
Before joining EMC, Gelsinger spent 30 years at Intel, becoming the company’s first chief technology officer and driving the creation of key industry technologies such as USB and Wi-Fi. He was the architect of the original 80486 processor, led 14 different microprocessor programs and played key roles in the Core and Xeon families.
For both Swan and Gelsinger, India has always been a strategic and growth-oriented market.
“I am thrilled to rejoin and lead Intel forward at this important time for the company, our industry and our nation,” said Gelsinger.
“I believe Intel has significant potential to continue to reshape the future of technology and look forward to working with the incredibly talented global Intel team to accelerate innovation and create value for our customers and shareholders.”
Swan said that with significant progress made across those priorities, “we’re now at the right juncture to make this transition to the next leader of Intel”.
“I am fully supportive of the board’s selection of Gelsinger and have great confidence that, under his leadership and the rest of the management team, Intel will continue to lead the market as one of the world’s most influential technology companies,” Swan noted.
Before joining EMC, Gelsinger spent 30 years at Intel, becoming the company’s first chief technology officer and driving the creation of key industry technologies such as USB and Wi-Fi. He was the architect of the original 80486 processor, led 14 different microprocessor programs and played key roles in the Core and Xeon families.
–IANS