Intel's president was forced out

Intel Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger has been forced out as the board loses confidence in his plans to revive the giant chipmaker.

The conflict came to a head during talks last week between Kissinger and the board about the company's progress in regaining market share and closing the gap with Nvidia Corp, according to people familiar with the matter. He was given the choice to retire or be fired and chose to announce the end of his career at Intel. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the process was not public.

Intel said in a statement that Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and executive vice president Michelle Johnston Holthaus are serving as co-ceos on an interim basis while the board searches for Kissinger's successor. Frank Yeary, chairman of the independent board, will serve as executive chairman on an interim basis.

Kissinger, 63, was once hailed as the "savior" of the chip giant. When he took over three years ago, he expressed his love for the company and his determination to restore Intel to a leading position in the semiconductor industry. Kissinger has worked at Intel since he was a teenager, but left in 2009 to become CEO of cloud computing company VMware. When he returned to Intel in 2021, he promised to regain the lead in chip manufacturing, a key area where Intel had previously lost ground to rivals such as TSMC.

Kissinger could not immediately be reached for comment by Bloomberg.

Intel investors welcomed the change, sending the company's shares up as much as 6 percent Monday in New York, although they are still down about 50 percent this year.