New Intel CEO says its 'best days are in front of us' as it aims for CPU dominance

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger at the Robert Noyce Building (Intel HQ) — (Image credit: Intel)

Veteran engineer and Intel employee Pat Gelsinger has taken over as the new CEO of Intel today, replacing Bob Swan who has held the position since 2018. A self-proclaimed "geek at heart", Gelsinger is promising to see Intel once again take the lead in the technology race against Intel's numerous competitors, including AMD, Apple, and Arm.

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“As the incoming CEO, I am just really thrilled that we have the opportunity to take this great icon of a company," Gelsinger says in a video from the Intel newsroom, "this company that has been crucial to every aspect of technology, and have it be that leader again into the future. Because I believe that Intel has a treasure trove of technologists, of technology, and ultimately its core DNA is being that technology leader for the future.

"I’m just thrilled as a technologist, as a geek at heart, to be able to be in that leadership role to help bring the passions, the history, the opportunity of this great company forward as never before. Our best days are in front of us.”

Gelsinger becomes the eighth CEO in Intel's history today and his arrival may bode well for the future of the company, as many believe his extensive engineering background and work at VMWare will help to bring Intel back on track. That even includes Intel's toughest critics.

With 30 years of prior experience at Intel, he sure seems a good fit for the role. And at least a few of my colleagues certainly seem to think so too. Engineers have also had a good run at CEO positions as of late: just look at AMD's Dr. Lisa Su—absolutely killing it.

But it'll be some time before we truly feel the impact of a new CEO in Intel's products. A company of Intel's size is not an easy one to turn around, so our only hope is Gelsinger gets a fair whack at it before the board goes and appoints a replacement—Bob Swan hardly had the opportunity in his two-and-a-half-year tenure, that's for sure.

From the outside Intel looks quite the different company to when Swan first took over, at least.

You can check out this fancy timeline of Gelsinger's history over on the Intel newsroom [PDF warning], where it sure looks like Intel's keen to get the word out about his engineering past with the company. And it's quite some history, too, from designing the 386 microprocessor in 1985 and the 486 in 1989, to becoming the company's first CTO, to being named the best CEO in America (while at VMWare) by Glassdoor in 2019.

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.