CEO who brought Intel to central Ohio retires

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – One week after the federal government approved funding through the CHIPS Act to advance Intel plans for a plant in central Ohio and others throughout the country, the company’s CEO has retired.

Intel Corporation announced Monday that Pat Gelsinger, who helped bring Intel to the New Albany amid company turmoil, retired and stepped down from the board of directors, effective Dec. 1.

“Leading Intel has been the honor of my lifetime – this group of people is among the best and the brightest in the business, and I’m honored to call each and every one a colleague. Today is, of course, bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career,” Gelsinger said in a statement.

Gelsinger began his career with Intel in 1979 and eventually became the company’s first chief technology officer. He “helped launch and revitalize process manufacturing by investing in state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing, while working tirelessly to drive innovation throughout the company,” independent chair of the board of Intel Frank Yeary said.

Among Gelsinger’s accomplishments was seeing through government funding of up to $7.8 billion to support the company’s plan to invest more than $100 billion in the United States. That investment includes construction of a new fabrication plant in New Albany and expand its existing computer chip factories in Arizona and Oregon.

The reduction in funding, which was originally proposed at $8.5 billion, is largely considered a byproduct of the $3 billion that Intel is also receiving to provide computer chips to the military. It is not related to the company’s financial records or the recent announcement that the company would cut about 15,000 jobs.

As Intel grappled with those layoffs, restructuring and a dropping stock price thanks to back-to-back losses in its last two quarterly earnings reports, Gelsinger had been weighing options to help return the company’s good fortune.

Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted issued a joint statement on Gelsinger's retirement.

“We want to wish former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger the best in his retirement. Pat has been the driving force in choosing Ohio as the site of Intel’s newest silicon foundries, and Team Ohio has had a great working relationship with him over the past two years," they said.

“Billions of dollars have been invested at the Ohio One site in Licking County, including multiple loads of equipment coming north from the Ohio River to the site. Now that the CHIPS Act funding has been announced, we anticipate the project will continue to move ahead quickly."

Just two years prior, his company was the poster child alongside President Joe Biden for a push for domestic semiconductor manufacturing. President Biden hailed Intel as a job creator and praised the company for plans to “build a workforce of the future,” with the project expected to generate 7,000 construction jobs and 3,000 full-time jobs.

The initiative saw the CHIPS and Science Act materialize, in hopes of weaning the U.S. off dependence on Taiwan, the international hub for computer chip manufacturing that faces an ever-present threat of Chinese invasion.

Fast-forward to 2024, Intel had not yet received the promised $8.5 billion in funds. Gelsinger, speaking with Yahoo Finance, made it known he was getting impatient.

Gelsinger will be replaced on an interim basis by David Zinser and Michell Johnston Holthaus as co-chief executive officers while the board of directors conducts a search for a permanent replacement. Zinsner is executive vice president and chief financial officer, and Holthaus has been appointed to the newly created position of CEO of Intel Products, a group that encompasses the company’s Client Computing Group, Data Center and AI Group and Network and Edge Group.

“We expect to talk with the Interim CEOs of Intel soon so we can offer whatever continued support they need as we work to build the most advanced microchip fabrication facility on earth which will stand as the cornerstone of the Silicon Heartland,” DeWine and Husted said.

Yeary will also serve as interim executive chair of the board during the period of transition, the company said.