Intel shares rise as Pat Gelsinger unexpectedly exits CEO role

After a largely disappointing year for Intel, the company’s stock has seen a modest jump this morning in the wake of an announcement that CEO Pat Gelsinger is retiring—effective immediately.

According to Intel’s press release, Gelsinger has stepped down from his position as CEO and from the board of directors after spending nearly 30 years at the company, which he first joined in 1979 at the age of 18. While Intel’s board starts the search for a new leader, the company has named executive vice president and CFO David Zinsner and CEO of Intel Products Michelle Johnston Holthaus as interim co-CEOs.

The announcement comes amidst a markedly rocky year for both Intel and Gelsinger. The former darling chipmaker has fallen from its former top spot in the industry, a drop that’s in part attributable to its failure to adopt AI technology in order to compete with the new giant Nvidia.

As early as the 2000s, Intel demonstrated a hesitance to pivot when it failed to shift focus from PC chips to mobile chips. And, in the last several years, the company passed on the chance to own OpenAI and missed the AI-focused chip boat entirely. In 2024, the company’s first and second quarter financial reports fell significantly behind expectations, leading the company to lay off more than 15% of its workforce in August. At the time, Gelsinger bluntly called the results “disappointing.” A source told Fast Company in September that Gelsinger was preparing to propose a plan to the board of directors to slice off unnecessary businesses and revamp capital spending in a bid to play catch-up with Nvidia.

It’s unclear exactly how and when Gelsinger planned to roll out that turnaround plan, though the chipmaker’s third quarter report, released in October, was slightly less dire than expected (despite a 6% year-over-year revenue decline). Still, Intel took another major blow to its reputation early last month, when Nvidia officially replaced it on the Dow due to Nvidia’s much heftier share price.

Now, Intel is looking for someone else to take the helm of a company that increasingly appears to be paddling upstream. So far, investors are reacting positively to Gelsinger’s retirement. As of this writing, the chipmaker’s shares are up about 3% to $24.82. Time will tell whether those gains will hold, or if the company will continue to fall behind its competitors.