Intel Appoints First Technician CEO Since 2005
'Xeon Development Leader' Galsinger Triples VMware Revenue
'Challenge' to deal with tech companies' chip production moves, etc.


Could the appointment of a CEO with a technical background lead to a revival of Intel's processor technology leadership? Intel announced on the 16th that Pat Gelsinger, former CEO of VMware, has officially taken office as the company's eighth CEO.

Gelsinger worked at his first job, Intel, for 30 years from 1979 to 2009. In 2019, as CEO of VMware, he was named the best CEO in the U.S. by the U.S. workplace review site Glassdoor.

In his inaugural address, he emphasized, “Intel is a company aiming to be a technology leader,” adding, “I am also an engineer.” Gelsinger is the first CEO with an engineering background to emerge in a long while since former CEO Craig Barrett, who served until 2005.

Gelsinger, Intel's first Chief Technology Officer (CTO), holds eight patents and led the development of major industrial technologies such as USB and Wi-Fi during his tenure at Intel. In addition, along with the development of the Intel 80486 processor, he played a pivotal role in the development of the Intel Core® and Xeon® processor families.

In 2009, he moved to EMC and served as President of Information Infrastructure Products and Chief Operating Officer (COO). Starting in 2012, as CEO of VMware, he led the company to become a leader in cloud infrastructure, enterprise mobility, and cybersecurity, and tripled annual revenue.

Intel remains the world's number one semiconductor company by revenue. However, it is facing internal and external crises, including the challenge from AMD aiming to overtake it in market share in the desktop PC processor market, the sluggish adoption of sub-10 nanometer (nm) foundry advanced processes, the sale of its NAND business unit, and the moves by tech giants to design and produce their own processors.

Attention is focused on how CEO Gelsinger, who emphasized his background as an engineer, will handle this.