Intel CEO Bob Swan to Step Down After Rough Stretch of 2 Years, VMware's Pat Gelsinger to Take Over

Intel is replacing its CEO after only two years in what had been a rough stretch for the chipmaker. Bob Swan, who became the company’s chief executive in early 2019, will be replaced in mid-February by tech industry veteran Pat Gelsinger. The Santa Clara, California, company said Wednesday that the change in leadership is unrelated to its financial performance last year, but the surprise shakeup followed several weeks of investor activism by hedge fund Third Point, which had pushed for big changes. Intel Chairman Omar Ishrak, who is also the CEO of medical device-maker Medtronic, said in a prepared statement that the board concluded that now is the right time to make this leadership change to draw on Pats technology and engineering expertise during this critical period of transformation at Intel. Swan, a former chief financial officer at Intel, assumed interim leadership in 2018 after CEO Brian Krzanich resigned after the company learned of what it called a past, consensual relationship with an employee.