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Pat Gelsinger, the architect of Intel's current revival strategy, which centers around contract chip manufacturing and the new 18A chip fabrication process to regain the edge that the chipmaker has lost, was booted from his apex role at Intel at the end of 2024. Now, Gelsinger seems to have found a new abode, and that too, within the cutthroat VC industry.
The word on the street is that Intel's former CEO was too "mild-mannered" to implement the sheer breadth of the layoffs that were required to cull the chipmaker's bureaucratic middle management. He is also reported to have opposed the splitting up of Intel's foundry and chip design business, setting the stage for his departure.
For the benefit of those who might not be aware, BofA's Vivek Arya recently denigrated the proposal to sell Intel's fabs, noting that splitting up Intel "could be time- consuming and complicated given: 1) Extensive approval requirements from global (China) regulators due to INTC’s dominant ~70% share of PC/server CPU, 2) Mismatch between INTC and TSMC’s manufacturing processes, 3) TSMC’s ongoing fab expansion plans in Arizona with ability to serve AI customers, 4) AVGO’s existing low-levered but high debt ($58bn net debt) balance sheet, and 5) Constraints of INTC’s CHIPS Act funding (design needs to own 50%+ of manufacturing) and ROI requirements from co- investment partners Apollo and Brookfield."
Coming back, Pat Gelsinger now seems to have found space for himself in an even more ambitious industry.
To wit, Reuters is now reporting that Pat Gelsinger has joined the venture capital (VC) firm Playground Global as a general partner. Bear in mind that Playground has around $1.2 billion in assets under management. The VC firm specializes in investing in semiconductor-related technologies.
Pat Gelsinger intends to involve himself with between 10 and 20 of Playground's portfolio companies, aiming to find technologies that can outperform existing cutting-edge ones by a factor of 10.
As his opening gambit, Pat Gelsinger has joined the board of a Playground portfolio company, xLight, as executive chairman. The company is trying to develop a much more efficient laser to power Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines. The former CEO of Intel believes continued advancements in laser tech is one of only very few avenues to keep abreast with Moore's Law.
