Pat Gelsinger departed Intel as CEO on Dec. 1. He posted via X one week later a public request to join him in “praying and fasting for the 100K Intel employees as they navigate this difficult period.”
He also said something that seemed almost biblical in its prophetic tone: “Intel and its team is of seminal importance to the future of the industry and US.”
Just to paint the full picture: Gelsinger has regularly posted on X various scriptures from the Holy Bible multiple times during his nearly four years at the CEO post. He seems to be deeply religious, but I never saw him push his faith on anybody in a business setting.
I pointed out his praying and fasting appeal to another editor who found it weird and so it is, yes, I agreed, just because X is usually so filled with hate and wild distortions and a few, thankfully, undoctored videos so that it might feel weird to hear somebody appeal for prayer and, more amazingly, fasting. We even discussed how his public prayer appeal on the social platform could scare people and, as a result, hurt Intel shares and, then, even get back at the board for what was apparently a “retire or be fired” ultimatum.
But that’s not Pat, no way. I saw him in person, up close, multiple times, and asked questions about everything. He took all the questions of the media, including mine, even though he was clever and often deferred. He knows when to demur and not get a story written on a sensitive topic, like, when will the 18A node finally go into full production? I think most of the media and analyst world listened to him (trusted him, maybe) largely because of his engineering savvy.
It’s interesting that the problems at Intel, the 15,000 laid off workers, the share declines, the $10 billion in cost cutting, delays on chip production nodes, all get laid at the feet of Gelsinger. (Same as any CEO in America, I guess.) Almost nobody ever reports on what part of the crap was caused by the board or the dodgy history from decades of decisions and previous CEOs and boards. The captain goes down with the ship, etc., as if nobody ever thought the boat might have been better designed and crafted well before the captain was hired.
But I do think the board is going to eventually regret the loss of Pat Gelsinger. There is a search for a full-time replacement and the interim co-CEOs really are at the top of their game. The board has also just added two new members (Eric Meurice and Steve Sanghi) who seem especially qualified in chip technology, even in chipmaking machinery like the ASML variety. Things seem a tad better at the board than only a few days ago, although there have been some nasty critiques of board members. Check out Doug O’Laughlin at Fabricated Knowledge who wrote, “Pat lost his seat because of an incompetent board.” He also said Pat’s departure was surprising partly because he was the “most technically competent CEO of the last few bad Apples at Intel.”
Board members know how to hide, and that’s a mistake. Heck, we even have sitting US Supreme Court justices learning how to explain themselves in public forums, something that never happened in decades past. Would be nice to hear the board explain why selling off the foundry business or, alternatively, keeping the foundry side along with the design side at Intel would be a good decision. (The first mention of Pat’s departure had the board saying the foundry leadership would stay and a new Product group would be formed to give it more oomph.)
What happens next at Intel is still pretty much a mystery, but Pat is right about Intel and its team holding seminal importance to the future of the industry and the US. More than the previous CEO, by far, Pat seemed to have valued the 56-year history of Intel. It was where he had his first big job as an engineer. He has always sounded like an engineer, even when talking to President Biden and other world leaders about the value of bolstering chip fabs in Europe and the US. (OMG, what is going to happen with the CHIPS Act billions that Intel has won?)
Yes, Pat’s constant posting of scripture on X and his recent call for fasting and prayer might seem weird to some people, but even if you are not religious at all, you have to respect a guy for pointing to something larger and older and more influential than Intel or the semiconductor trade or share prices or even himself.
What matters in the long run? Pat does seem to have a handle on what endures (like ancient scripture and ineffable faith and physics), even if he’s no longer top dog at Intel.