Intel's CEO in waiting tells staff that the company must make better CPUs than Apple

Intel HQ — (Image credit: Walden Kirsch via Intel)

Intel's next CEO, Pat Gelsinger, officially takes up his position in February, but he's already been involved in an all-hands meeting of Intel's staff, The Oregonian reports (paywall). According to quotes from the meeting, Gelsinger has his eyes set on topping 'a lifestyle company in Cupertino', which undoubtedly stands for newly-minted CPU rivals, Apple.

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“We have to deliver better products to the PC ecosystem than any possible thing that a lifestyle company in Cupertino makes" Gelsinger is said to have told Intel employees (via The Verge). “We have to be that good, in the future.”

Apple is based in Cupertino, California, which is where its Apple Park HQ is located.

Intel's obviously focused on competing with fellow x86 company, AMD, for chip dominance, but it appears Apple ditching Intel in favour of its in-house ARM chips stings for a company once lauded for its pristine chipmaking record.

It will be Gelsinger's job to get Intel onto a path where it's not playing second fiddle to a 'lifestyle company', to put it in his own words.

Gelsinger will replace existing Intel CEO Bob Swan on February 15, 2021.

And we think he just might be the best person for the job, too. An engineer by trade who knows Intel inside and out (pun intended), Gelsinger is already seen by many to be an admirable choice for the CEO position. Especially, it seems, Wall Street. Intel's share price rose over 10 percent the day Gelsinger's appointment was made public.

But it's still a mighty task to turn that ship around, and one that'll be many years in the making. In that time, Intel may be looking to outsource some of its chip production to TSMC, says TrendForce, although that's something Intel may be considering delaying for Gelsinger's say on the matter, The Oregonian notes.

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Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog, before graduating into breaking things professionally at PCGamesN. Now he's managing editor of the hardware team at PC Gamer, and you'll usually find him testing the latest components or building a gaming PC.