At least he'll have company as he joins 15K colleagues headed for the door

Comment Pat Gelsinger is out as Intel CEO, cutting short his nearly four-year crusade to revitalize the beleaguered chipmaker.

Gelsinger's "retirement" as CEO and departure from the x86 behemoth's board of directors is immediate, having gone into effect on Sunday, though Intel didn't disclose the decision until today.

The abruptness of Gelsinger's departure and lack of a succession plan suggest it probably wasn't voluntary.

“I think the board made a decision or overruled a decision that Gelsinger thought was a bad one and he was out — likely related to the splitting Foundry from the design company.” Patrick Moorhead, chief analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy, told The Register. "Something happened in the last week."

“I think people are missing the speed at which this went down. They backdated the announcement. He retired on December 1; it goes on December 2, right? He’s not on ...