When prominent CEOs lose their jobs, they sometimes go into a period of virtual hibernation. They retreat from public view, nursing their wounds. Sometimes they never re-emerge.
That hasn’t been the case with Pat Gelsinger, forced from his job as Intel’s chief executive last fall. Gelsinger was back on social media almost immediately, inviting prayers for his former colleagues at Intel and championing new technologies and ideas.
In recent weeks he’s been at tech conferences and on cable TV news, advancing his own views on the future of innovation. Gelsinger, 64, recently signed on with a venture capital firm and as board chair for two young tech companies.
And on Tuesday, Gelsinger was back in Oregon to speak at George Fox University on how his Christian faith shapes his view of technology, reflect on his time at Intel and address his abrupt exit at the beginning of December.
“Dec. 1 began just as a most dreadful few days for me,” Gelsinger told a packed auditorium. He didn’t delve into the circumstances that triggered his ouster but made clear he didn’t see it coming.
After being forced into retirement, Gelsinger said, he was often “pissed off, angry and bitter with the board.” But other times, he said, he felt “God’s on the throne and he has a plan.”
Gelsinger joined Intel at age 18 and spent the first 30 years of his career at the company, most of that time in Oregon, rising to be its first chief technology officer. He left in 2009 and later became CEO of Silicon Valley software maker VMware. Gelsinger returned to Intel in 2021 as CEO, charged with reviving the chipmaker’s lagging technology.
The turnaround plan Gelsinger brought with him called for spending tens of billions of dollars in new factories in the U.S. and around the world. He helped guide the CHIPS Act through Congress in 2022 and negotiated $7.9 billion in government subsidies for Intel.
Intel’s spending spree coincided with slumping demand for Intel’s PC chips and a shift away from its conventional microprocessors toward advanced chips for artificial intelligence. That’s a market where Intel has no presence.
The result was a steep decline in Intel’s revenue and share price, which fell by half in Gelsinger’s last year running the company. The company eliminated 15,000 jobs in the fall to slash costs.
Neither Intel nor Gelsinger has explained what led to his ouster in December. Last month, the company named former Intel board member Lip-Bu Tan to take over.
While Gelsinger didn’t offer any thoughts on Intel’s future at Wednesday’s talk, it was plain that the company is still central to his identity. His 40-minute talk turned repeatedly back to the company’s founders and leaders and technology he worked on while at the chipmaker.
And Gelsinger focused on the future of artificial intelligence, which he said will be “way more important” than the internet.
“For the history of computing, we have been adapting to the computer’s language. With AI, the computers adapt to us,” Gelsinger said.
It’s a hopeful message, but Gelsinger said the merits of any new technology depend on how it’s used. He said social media has been a “disaster,” a failing he attributed in part to people of faith not showing up to participate and set a positive tone online.
Classical computing, artificial intelligence and the emerging field of quantum computing represent a “trinity” of technologies, he said, that can “solve the world’s hardest problems.” But Gelsinger said it’s up to people of faith, including him, to ensure the technology is applied as a force for good.
“I’m not done,” he said.
-- Mike Rogoway covers Oregon technology and the state economy. Reach him at mrogoway@oregonian.com or 503-294-7699.
www.oregonlive.com
That hasn’t been the case with Pat Gelsinger, forced from his job as Intel’s chief executive last fall. Gelsinger was back on social media almost immediately, inviting prayers for his former colleagues at Intel and championing new technologies and ideas.
In recent weeks he’s been at tech conferences and on cable TV news, advancing his own views on the future of innovation. Gelsinger, 64, recently signed on with a venture capital firm and as board chair for two young tech companies.
And on Tuesday, Gelsinger was back in Oregon to speak at George Fox University on how his Christian faith shapes his view of technology, reflect on his time at Intel and address his abrupt exit at the beginning of December.
“Dec. 1 began just as a most dreadful few days for me,” Gelsinger told a packed auditorium. He didn’t delve into the circumstances that triggered his ouster but made clear he didn’t see it coming.
After being forced into retirement, Gelsinger said, he was often “pissed off, angry and bitter with the board.” But other times, he said, he felt “God’s on the throne and he has a plan.”
Gelsinger joined Intel at age 18 and spent the first 30 years of his career at the company, most of that time in Oregon, rising to be its first chief technology officer. He left in 2009 and later became CEO of Silicon Valley software maker VMware. Gelsinger returned to Intel in 2021 as CEO, charged with reviving the chipmaker’s lagging technology.
The turnaround plan Gelsinger brought with him called for spending tens of billions of dollars in new factories in the U.S. and around the world. He helped guide the CHIPS Act through Congress in 2022 and negotiated $7.9 billion in government subsidies for Intel.
Intel’s spending spree coincided with slumping demand for Intel’s PC chips and a shift away from its conventional microprocessors toward advanced chips for artificial intelligence. That’s a market where Intel has no presence.
The result was a steep decline in Intel’s revenue and share price, which fell by half in Gelsinger’s last year running the company. The company eliminated 15,000 jobs in the fall to slash costs.
Neither Intel nor Gelsinger has explained what led to his ouster in December. Last month, the company named former Intel board member Lip-Bu Tan to take over.
While Gelsinger didn’t offer any thoughts on Intel’s future at Wednesday’s talk, it was plain that the company is still central to his identity. His 40-minute talk turned repeatedly back to the company’s founders and leaders and technology he worked on while at the chipmaker.
And Gelsinger focused on the future of artificial intelligence, which he said will be “way more important” than the internet.
“For the history of computing, we have been adapting to the computer’s language. With AI, the computers adapt to us,” Gelsinger said.
It’s a hopeful message, but Gelsinger said the merits of any new technology depend on how it’s used. He said social media has been a “disaster,” a failing he attributed in part to people of faith not showing up to participate and set a positive tone online.
Classical computing, artificial intelligence and the emerging field of quantum computing represent a “trinity” of technologies, he said, that can “solve the world’s hardest problems.” But Gelsinger said it’s up to people of faith, including him, to ensure the technology is applied as a force for good.
“I’m not done,” he said.
-- Mike Rogoway covers Oregon technology and the state economy. Reach him at mrogoway@oregonian.com or 503-294-7699.
‘I’m not done’: Former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger returns to Oregon to speak on faith and technology
After being forced into retirement, Gelsinger said he was often “pissed off, angry and bitter with the board.”
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