Intel Corp.’s new CEO wants to make the company more agile and reliable in order to face a “very competitive market,” he told employees.
Pat Gelsinger returned to Intel, which employs more than 1,800 in Rio Rancho, on Monday as the chipmaker faces challenges around manufacturing and keeping up with competitors. Gelsinger spent 30 years at Intel before becoming CEO of VMware in 2009.
“I am confident that we can be the world’s leading semiconductor company in a landscape of tremendous change and set a course for a new era of innovation and technological leadership,” Gelsinger wrote in a note to employees, which was posted to Intel’s website Tuesday.
In order to achieve this, Gelsinger said the company will need to prove its “differentiated value” across its products and manufacturing ability and follow through on its commitments to customers, noting that while Intel “must set aggressive targets to regain share and leadership, they must also be achievable and done with the highest quality.”
Another challenge Intel faces is attracting top talent. Gelsinger said the company should “untether our enormous energy and potential for our business with a vibrant, inclusive and open culture” while returning “some of the Groveian disciplines for direct transparent and data-driven decisions and accountability” — referring to former Intel CEO Andy Grove.
The company holds 93% market share for data center chips and an 81% share for the chips that go into desktop computers, The Economist reported Monday.
But its manufacturing process has lagged and the company has fallen behind its competitors when it comes to rolling out the small, powerful nanometer chips, tech analyst Ivan Feinseth wrote in a research note Tuesday.
Fixing that will be Gelsinger’s primary focus, and his experience at VMware could help turn things around at Intel, Feinseth said.
“Gelsinger’s recent background in software-defined functionality could change Intel’s direction as Moore’s law’s cadence has been called into question, and processing power does not continue to increase exponentially,” Feinseth wrote. “Instead, it continues to be enhanced by increasingly software-defined capabilities.”
Shares of Intel were trading more than 1% higher on Tuesday morning at nearly $63 per share. The company’s stock price is down more than 5% over the last year.
What Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger wrote to the company's employees:
Hi team!
I am delighted to be writing to you today as the CEO of this iconic company. Since its birth more than 50 years ago, Intel has been an engine for innovation. It has also, in many ways, been part of my family. I often say I grew up in these hallways, fueled by ambition and faith in the power of technology to touch every human on the planet in every mode of life. Inspired by the leadership of Gordon Moore, Robert Noyce and Andy Grove, I’m excited to step into my dream job.
So here we are. Today, our industry is moving rapidly. Technology has never been more important for humanity than it is now. Everything is becoming digital, with four key superpowers – cloud, mobility fueled by 5G, artificial intelligence and the intelligent edge – set to transcend and transform the world. Intel is the only semiconductor company that has the depth and breadth of intelligent silicon, platform, software, architecture, design, manufacturing and scale that our customers need to capitalize on these opportunities and fuel their next-generation innovations.
I am confident that we can be the world’s leading semiconductor company in a landscape of tremendous change and set a course for a new era of innovation and technological leadership. To seize this tremendous opportunity, we must focus on four priorities:
Be the leader in every category in which we compete. We must stay ahead of customer needs and become more agile in a very competitive market and prove the differentiated value of our products, our roadmap and our manufacturing capability.
Execute flawlessly to our commitments. Customers must be able to rely on Intel for their products and their strategies for the future. While we must set aggressive targets to regain share and leadership, they must also be achievable and done with the highest quality.
Passionately innovate with boldness and speed. We will be a fountain for continuous innovation in the industry through our unmatched IP, engineering talent and research into new next-generation computing architectures.
Reignite our culture to attract and motivate the best engineers and technologists on the planet. Intel must be the place where the best talent in the world can fulfill their dreams. We need to untether our enormous energy and potential for our business with a vibrant, inclusive and open culture. We need to bring back some of the Groveian disciplines for direct, transparent and data-driven decisions and accountability.
I’m thrilled and honored to be working with this incredibly talented global team, and I look forward to engaging with all of you. I’ve already been working to get up to speed on the business and will continue to prioritize much of my time over the coming weeks to listen and learn. You can expect frequent, ongoing updates from me along the way.
I know Intel’s best days are in front of us. Let’s get started.
— Pat
