Intel corp. The search for a new CEO will focus heavily on outsiders, with the chipmaker considering candidates such as Marvell technology Inc., Matt Murphy and ex Cadence Design Systems CEO Lip-Bu Tan, according to people familiar with the situation.
The company has hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart to help find a new boss and evaluate candidates, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are private. That includes looking for talent far beyond Intel’s walls — a break with tradition.
This week’s sudden ouster of CEO Pat Gelsinger triggered an urgent search for new leadership at a time when the chipmaker’s fortunes are uncertain and its bench depleted by years of management changes. Gelsinger took over just three years ago and has since focused on a complex, expensive effort to turn around the struggling company.
That didn’t give him time to resurrect one of Intel’s other legacies — an executive training program that once produced leaders for the rest of the industry. For now, Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and Executive Vice President Michelle Johnston Holthaus are serving as interim co-CEOs.
Shares of Marvell fell as much as 2.3% on Tuesday after Bloomberg News reported that Murphy was being considered. Intel fell more than 5% at 1:09 p.m. in New York, continuing a slide that began on Monday.
All but one of the company’s executives since its inception in 1968 have been local, with the exception, Bob Swan, given the job as an interim measure when the board of directors was forced to oust Brian Krzanich. That drama interrupted a series of carefully choreographed legacies that had contributed to five decades of stability for the company. A number of Intel veterans also left during Krzanich’s tenure.
As the board searches for Gelsinger’s permanent replacement, analysts say, it may be difficult to choose from within, in part because the earlier exodus means there are fewer strong internal candidates. On the other hand, there is little optimism that the company will be able to bring in an outside savior who can immediately shake things up.
“It may be challenging to find a replacement with the right experience and background, with the ability to manage a complex organization like Intel and able to effectively deal with multiple headwinds,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh wrote in a note on Monday.
Intel declined to comment on potential candidates for the CEO position. Marvell, Murphy and Tan did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Reuters previously reported that 65-year-old Tan, who he was a member of Intel’s board until the beginning of this year, was in competition for the job.
One way to balance the insider-outsider equation would be to hire an old Intel executive who left during the management turmoil of recent years — like Gelsinger.
Among such candidates would be Stacy Smith, a former Intel executive who joined the company’s board this year. The former Intel CFO, who also spent time in the company’s sales organization, left during Krzanich’s tenure in 2018 and was a previous candidate for the top job. A more recent departure is Gregory Bryant, who headed Intel’s PC unit. He joined Analog devices Inch. in 2022.
Also in this cohort is Ampere Computing LLC CEO Renee James, who created a startup trying to compete with Intel in server chips. She was the president of Intel until Krzanich pushed her aside. Former Lenovo Group CEO Kirk Skaugen, who left Intel in 2016, was in charge of Intel’s server chip unit when it dominated the industry.
Another potential recruitment pool: Intel’s biggest customers, many of which have launched their own chip-making programs with varying levels of success. Johny Srouji is senior vice president Apple Successful indoor unit chip Inc. The iPhone maker’s in-house program started a recurring trend elsewheremostly by AmazonA unit of AWS .com Inc. Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc Google and Meta platform Inch. also built significant chip teams.
When Intel was trying to bring Gelsinger back to the company about four years ago, some other chip company executives, including Marvell’s Murphy, were reported as being considered. Intel has now approached him for the latest search, the people said.
Despite a serious decline in his wealthIntel remains one of the most important companies in the technology industry. It remains among the largest chipmakers by revenue, and more than 70% of the world’s personal computers and server machines run on its processors. His plan to build additional factories in the US is a cornerstone of the federal government’s push to produce more chips on American soil.
Whoever Intel chooses, the new CEO will need time to recoup the more than $20 billion in revenue lost to competitors over the past few years.
“In addition to not having a bench, the new outside CEO coming to Intel is a multi-year job that is a tall order in an innovation cycle that is more intense than ever,” said Hans Mosesmann, an analyst at Rosenblatt Securities.
Given the technical nature of the industry — chip design and manufacturing require a mix of electronic engineering, chemistry and physics typically run by PhD teams — Intel may be reluctant to promote CFO Zinsner on a permanent basis. When CFO Swan was interim head of the company, analysts questioned whether he understood the technical side of the business well enough to make strategic decisions.
Gelsinger, who was brought back to Intel after a decade away, spoke about his connection to the company’s past and his plan to restore its strength. Now that may no longer be a selling point. The immediate need to win over Intel’s competitors and turn them into customers for its external manufacturing business may involve shutting down longtime Intel aides.
If the board is looking for immediately transferable skills, Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturing Co., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Nvidia corp. would be the most obvious talent pools. During the company’s latest CEO search, AMD’s Lisa Su was mentioned as the favorite choice by many analysts. But since then, the company he leads has risen to greater levels of success, taking market share from Intel and emerging as a major contender to catch Nvidia in artificial intelligence chips. AMD it’s currently worth more than double Intel by market cap.
Recruiting from Nvidia could also be difficult. Co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang has created a unique management structure that eschews traditional hierarchy. Huang has dozens of direct reports in a horizontal structure, making it nearly impossible to identify which of them might be in the best position to take a step forward — at Nvidia or at another company like Intel.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s TSMC has overtaken Intel in manufacturing capabilities to become the leading chip maker for other companies. It produces the most advanced chips in the world, working for Apple, AMD, Nvidia and many others. At Hsinchu headquarters, executives considered instrumental in steering TSMC’s meteoric rise include an Intel veteran Kevin Zhang and his deputy co-chief operating officer, Cliff Hou. In the US, TSMC Arizona CEO YL Wang recently scored a significant triumph, helping the plant achieve better offerings but its comparable object at home.
It is uncertain, however, whether TSMC’s senior executives will consider ditching the world’s top chipmaker under contract to save the much less stable company. But TSMC’s former chairman, Mark Liu, who spent some of the early years of his career at Intel and retired from the Taiwanese chipmaker earlier in 2024, may be someone Intel can lure — even though he’s older than the average American CEO. Liu turns 70 this year.
“We do not expect it to be easy for Intel to find a new leader with the credentials to lead Intel through this challenge,” Wolfe Research analyst Chris Caso wrote in a report. “Gelsinger came with a wealth of Intel experience, and there weren’t many viable candidates.”
