In a major announcement, Intel on Monday announced its CEO Pat Gelsinger will be retiring after a “distinguished” career at the company that spanned more than four decades. The Santa Clara-based chipmaker said Gelsinger also stepped down from its board of directors, naming David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus co-CEOs in the interim. Zinsner serves as Intel’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, while Holthaus has been appointed to a “newly-created position” the company describes as the chief executive officer of Intel products.
“Leading Intel has been the honor of my lifetime. [This] group of people is among the best and the brightest in the business, and I’m honored to call each and every one a colleague,” Gelsinger said of his departure in a statement included in Intel’s press release. “Today is, of course, bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career. I can look back with pride at all that we have accomplished together. It has been a challenging year for all of us as we have made tough but necessary decisions to position Intel for the current market dynamics. I am forever grateful for the many colleagues around the world who I have worked with as part of the Intel family.”
Corporate governance changes are usually far afield from my coverage area, but Gelsinger’s descension merits an exception. I interviewed him in May 2023 in what remains one of the biggest gets of my journalistic career. From an accessibility perspective, Gelsinger copes with hearing loss and is a wearer of hearing aids. In our discussion, which included Intel’s director of accessibility in Darryl Adams, Gelsinger explained his father was fully deaf when he died, so he sees himself as “carrying on the family tradition” and feels hearing aids are quickly “digitally advancing.”
Gelsinger told me he’s deeply appreciative of technology’s potential to do profound good by humankind, saying one of his favorite sounds in the world is being able to hear his granddaughter call him “Papa.”
“If it weren’t for technologies like [hearing aids], I might not be able to hear it,” he said. “At Intel, we create world-changing technology that improves the life of every person on the planet. I see my hearing aids as a great example of what happens when we live out our mission.”
News of Gelsinger’s retirement is instructive insofar as it also gives attention to Intel’s efforts in accessibility. You’d be forgiven if you didn’t associate computer silicon with accessibility, but it turns out, Intel truly does think about accessibility in a similar vein to how consumer-focused companies like its neighbors in Apple and Google do. On its website, Intel says technology is an “integral tool” with which disabled people can “live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life,” further noting the company “[strives] for an inclusive and accessible workplace [and] practice inclusive design in product development, and we engage with industry to advance accessibility across the tech ecosystem.”
One example of Intel’s embrace of accessibility is in hearing aids. At the time of my conversation with Gelsinger and Adams, the company announced it partnered with non-profit startup 3DP4ME to 3D-print custom ear molds that connect to hearing aid electronics. The hearing aids were intended for Jordanian children as part of a pilot program, with Intel noting the devices are prohibitively expensive to many around the world. To 3D print them, they added, increases access because “it is faster and less expensive than traditional manufacturing methods.”
The focus on hearing health, whether regarding Gelsinger personally or more broadly, dovetails well with recent events such as AirPods Pro becoming over-the-counter hearing aids and Apple’s newest holiday ad.