According to the Financial Association on December 4 (Editor: Niu Zhanlin), after announcing CEO Pat Gelsinger's departure, Intel has begun evaluating new CEO candidates, and the company is most likely to bring in an external person for the position. It is reported that discussions about the new CEO candidates at Intel are still in the early stages, and no candidates have been confirmed yet.

According to informed sources, the most likely candidates currently include Marvell Technology's Matt Murphy and former Cadence CEO Lip-Bu Tan.

Intel has hired the headhunting firm Spencer Stuart to help search for a new CEO and is evaluating candidates, including looking for talent outside of Intel, breaking from tradition.

On Monday, Gelsinger was suddenly removed from the CEO position and stepped down from the board of directors, abruptly halting his efforts to rescue Intel.

Reports indicate that the Intel board of directors told Gelsinger that he would either retire or be dismissed. In the end, Gelsinger chose to resign, and whoever takes over this legendary chip manufacturer will still face a daunting task.

Gelsinger just took office three years ago, and since then, he has focused on a complex and costly effort to turn around the struggling company. However, this has not given him the time to revitalize Intel's executive training program, which had once produced leaders for the entire industry.

Intel recently announced that Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus will serve as interim co-CEOs while the board searches for a long-term candidate.

Since its establishment in 1968, all leaders have been cultivated internally by intel, except for one leader. Bob Swan is the exception, having been appointed as interim CEO after the board of directors was forced to remove Brian Krzanich. This dramatic event disrupted the carefully planned succession strategy, which contributed to intel's stability for 50 years. During Brian Krzanich's tenure, many senior personnel also left the company.

Analysts indicate that as the board of directors searches for a successor to Kissinger, it may struggle to make an internal choice, partly due to early talent outflow limiting internal candidates. On the other hand, there isn’t much hope that intel can bring in an external savior who can immediately turn the situation around.

John Vinh, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, believes that finding someone with the right experience and background, capable of managing an organization as complex as intel, and effectively addressing numerous adverse factors may be a challenge.

Meanwhile, Kissinger left intel with a generous severance package. According to a filing with the usa Securities and Exchange Commission, Kissinger's annual salary was $1.25 million. His severance includes 18 months of base salary totaling $1.875 million; he will also receive a target bonus of $5.1 million; he will be eligible for most of the bonuses in 2024, which amount to about $3.1 million. Overall, this is at least $10 million in compensation.

As of the filings submitted to regulators in November, Kissinger also held approximately 0.646 million shares of intel stocks. Today, their value exceeds $14.5 million.

Under Kissinger's leadership, intel missed the ai boom that propelled many competitors and failed to deliver promised chips. During his tenure, the company’s stock price plummeted over 60%.