Intel has announced that Robert (Bob) Swan will be stepping down from his role as CEO of the company on February 15. He will be succeeded by Patrick Gelsinger, who"s coming from VMWare.
Bob Swan served as Intel CEO since July 2018, when he was named interim CEO of the company after Brian Krzanich resigned due to a relationship with an employee. He became full-time CEO of Intel in January of 2019, and has seen Intel through the resurgence of rivals such as AMD and the expansion of ARM processors into PCs.
Pat Gelsinger comes into Intel from VMWare, where he has been serving as CEO since 2012. Prior to that, he was President and CEO of EMC Information Infrastructure Products at EMC, and before that, worked for Intel for thirty years, having been the company"s first chief technology officer. Gelsinger commented on the new role, saying:
“I am thrilled to rejoin and lead Intel forward at this important time for the company, our industry and our nation(...). Having begun my career at Intel and learned at the feet of Grove, Noyce and Moore, it’s my privilege and honor to return in this leadership capacity. I have tremendous regard for the company’s rich history and powerful technologies that have created the world’s digital infrastructure. I believe Intel has significant potential to continue to reshape the future of technology and look forward to working with the incredibly talented global Intel team to accelerate innovation and create value for our customers and shareholders.”
Intel made sure to point out that the change in leadership isn"t related to its 2020 financial results, and it says that it expects its fourth-quarter performance to exceed the guidance it provided back in October. The full financial results will be available next week, on January 21. Intel also said that it"s been making progress on its 7nm process nodes, and it will share more news during the earnings call on January 21.