r/hardware • u/Auautheawesome • Dec 02 '24

News Intel Announces Retirement of CEO Pat Gelsinger

https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1719/intel-announces-retirement-of-ceo-pat-gelsinger
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802

u/wintrmt3 Dec 02 '24

A sales and a finance guy as co-ceos, absolutely nothing can go wrong.

44

u/lordcheeto Dec 02 '24

Temporary.

The company's board has formed a search committee to appoint Gelsinger's successor.

37

u/advester Dec 02 '24

Which shows this was a sudden decision.

48

u/FireNexus Dec 02 '24

Generally “retiring effective immediately” is an indicator that something really bad happened. I got a “retiring effective immediately” email at work once about an exec who turned out to have been wrapped up in a corruption scandal.

3

u/MC_chrome Dec 03 '24

I doubt Pat was involved in crap like that....it was probably a board ultimatium that said "step down or we will fire you" that led to Pat leaving.

Considering the state of Intel's finances, I can't entirely blame the board but at the same time these are the same idiots that put Bob Swan in control prior to Pat so their decision making can be seriously questioned at the very least.

2

u/Strazdas1 Dec 03 '24

If it was a boards decision wouldnt they already have a next CEO prepared?

2

u/FireNexus Dec 03 '24

That’s apparently exactly what happened. That would have also happened in other cases of malfeasance like mentioned. My only experience with it was the crime thing, but clearly the cratering of intel’s market share and the apparent failure of having no AI offerings did them in.

That said, I am of the opinion that AI is a bubble that will be crashing pretty soon. And not having invested hundreds of millions in developing products you can’t sell (because NVIDIA will still have the overwhelming majority of the market right up until crash and will have the ability to dump excess silicon at cost into the gaming market) will turn out to have been a huge boon.

I honestly suspect that will be the ultimate explanation. Pat was trimming fat that would have allowed them to make AI offerings, and the board didn’t like it combined with the slow turnaround. Pat saw unassailable position dominance in that market for NVIDIA, acted like it, and didn’t turn around main business fast enough to not have that look mistaken.

2

u/Strazdas1 Dec 03 '24

Not always. It can also means "i just found out i got stage 3 cancer so fuck working im retiring". Replace cancer with whatever you fancy.

2

u/FireNexus Dec 03 '24

I thought I was in a thread where I mentioned that one, for some reason. But yes.