VMware's Gelsinger takes top job at Intel
Virtualisation vendor's leader will return to old stomping ground when current CEO Bob Swan departs next month
VMware head honcho Pat Gelsinger will be the new chief exec at Intel.
He will assume the top job from 15 February when his predecessor Bob Swan is due to depart the role.
Gelsinger began his career at Intel and spent 30 years there, becoming its first CTO. He has been the CEO of VMware since 2012.
"I am thrilled to rejoin and lead Intel forward at this important time for the company, our industry and our nation," he stated.
"Having begun my career at Intel and learned at the feet of Grove, Noyce and Moore, it's my privilege and honour to return in this leadership capacity. I have tremendous regard for the company's rich history and powerful technologies that have created the world's digital infrastructure.
"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."
Departing boss Swan has held the position since 2019, after a seven-month stint as interim CEO, stepping in after his predecessor Brian Krzanich left following the exposure of his relationship with an employee.
"My goal over the past two years has been to position Intel for a new era of distributed intelligence, improving execution to strengthen our core CPU franchise and extending our reach to accelerate growth," said Swan.
"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 Pat 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."
Intel has struggled with an ongoing chip shortage in recent years, as rivals AMD and Nvidia eat into its market share and long-term partner Apple dumped it in favour of making its own chips for its Mac devices.
"Pat is a proven technology leader with a distinguished track record of innovation, talent development and deep knowledge of Intel. He will continue a values-based cultural leadership approach with a hyper focus on operational execution," said Omar Ishrak, independent chairman of the Intel board.
"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.
"The board is confident that Pat, together with the rest of the leadership team, will ensure strong execution of Intel's strategy to build on its product leadership and take advantage of the significant opportunities ahead as it continues to transform from a CPU to a multi-architecture XPU company."
VMware's share price dropped six per cent after the news broke this morning, while Intel has seen its share price jump as much as 11 per cent.
"The board and I deeply appreciate Bob Swan for his leadership and significant contributions through this period of transformation for Intel. Under his leadership, Intel has made significant progress on its strategy to transform into a multi-architecture XPU company to capitalise on market shifts and extend Intel's reach into fast-growing markets," added Ishrak.
"Bob has also been instrumental in re-energising the company's culture to drive better execution of our product and innovation roadmap. He leaves Intel in a strong strategic and financial position, and we thank him for his ongoing guidance as he works with Pat to ensure the leadership transition is seamless."