Gelsinger spent most of his career at Intel, rising to chief technology officer before leaving to run VMWare in 2012 and then returning as CEO in 2021. He was generally well respected by Wall Street and industry insiders, but on his watch, the stock underperformed the market as Intel lost ground in the AI race to Nvidia.

A new boss will have to decide whether to abandon the company’s hopes of becoming a chip-manufacturing leader.

Intel on Monday announced the retirement of chief executive Pat Gelsinger. The move, which was effective Sunday, comes as the U.S. chipmaker struggles to keep up in the hypercompetitive semiconductor market and as its stock price has tumbled.

On Monday, Intel announced that its CEO Pat Gelsinger was stepping down from his post after more than three years.

Intel Corp.’s search for a new chief executive officer will focus heavily on outsiders, with the chipmaker considering candidates such as Marvell Technology Inc. head Matt Murphy and former Cadence Design Systems Inc.