Gelsinger's gone: what next for Intel?

CEO's departure raises prospect of company being torn apart

The abrupt departure of Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger leaves the beleaguered chip giant with an uncertain future, with increased speculation that the company's board may be looking to split the business in two.

Former Intel board members have called for the company to be cleaved in half: one part focusing on making chips, the other on chip design. Other industry analysts disagree, claiming Intel's board has made a serious blunder by effectively firing Gelsinger midway through his long-term restructuring of the firm.

All of this comes amidst the change of US administration, which threatens a huge government investment in Intel's ability to manufacture chips in the States. For Intel, the future could barely be more uncertain.

Early retirement

Intel attempted to paint Gelsinger's shock departure as a move into early retirement, but it subsequently emerged that the CEO was given an ultimatum: take the golden handshake or clear your desk. "The reality is this was not a retirement but a firing of Pat," wrote Doug O'Laughlin, president of semiconductor research specialists SemiAnalysis.

"His brief stint of 1,386 days was surprising because not only was he the most technically competent CEO of the last few bad apples at Intel, but he was also among the shortest."

Among the theories being offered for Gelsinger's sudden departure is a disagreement with the board over a restructuring of the company. The board, it's claimed, would prefer to split the company in half, spinning off the foundry business in the same way that AMD did when it established GlobalFoundries to take over the company's manufacturing operations in 2009.