A little over a month ago Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced his sudden retirement on Monday, four former members of the company’s board wrote a public letter warning that the iconic American chip giant time was running out to turn the business around and prompted the company to split in two.
IN op-ed he published Wealth in Octoberboard members said that splitting Intel into two companies – one focused on designing its own microprocessors, the other a “foundry” making chips for other companies – was the only way to “stop the bleeding” and ensure that the most advanced chips were still made in America.
“Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is a true technologist who has played an important role in the company’s illustrious past. Today, he faces a difficult decision: whether to dissolve the iconic company. He has already announced plans to establish Intel Foundry as an independent subsidiary within Intel. But this does not go far enough,” the former executives wrote, calling instead for Intel to split the design and manufacturing operations into two completely separate companies.
Gelsinger gave himself a yes revive Intel as a leading manufacturer when he returned to the company as CEO in 2021, after spending VMWare. When he took the job, Intel was struggling with manufacturing problems that had caused it to lose its lead to Taiwan’s TSMC in producing the most advanced chips. Meanwhile, demand for AI-optimized chips has produced Nvidia they ate Intel’s sales.
The US government awarded Intel nearly $8 billion in grants through the CHIPS Act.
In an October op-ed, former board members – David B. Yoffie, Reed Hundt, Charlene Barshefsky and James Plummer – said the US government should condition its financial assistance on Intel’s split into two companies.
“The government has leverage to get Intel on a better path — and it needs to use it now.”
While full details of Gelsinger’s surprise departure have yet to be released, an open letter from former Intel executives provides valuable insight into the challenges the CEO faces in his final weeks at the company.
