A report said that Pat Gelsinger, a senior vice president at the Intel Corporation, is to leave the company after 30 years in harness and join storage company EMC.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Gelsinger, once tipped for the top job at the chip giant, will take over EMC’s storage products operations and some software units.
Gelsinger’s departure is set to trigger a number of changes at Intel with reports saying that British head of sales and marketing, Sean Maloney, will increase the size of his empire by taking server chips, graphics and other microprocessors under his wing.
Gelsinger was the pioneer of several projects at Intel which catapulted him and the company into the limelight. He was the brains behind the Intel Developer Forum and was relied upon by the company to explain complicated engineering projects in a down to earth manner. His departure comes as something of a surprise, given that he is an Intel man through and through.
Sean Maloney has often been tipped as a future CEO of Intel. The departure of Pat Gelsinger is likely to mean that he could take over when the current CEO, Paul Otellini, retires.
Another candidate for the position is Dadi Perlmutter, who will also increase his role at Intel. The next Intel Developer Forum starts a week tomorrow, in San Francisco.
UPDATE: At press time, Intel was remaining tight-lipped. A spokesman in the UK told TG Daily: “There is no statement on this industry rumor. If you wish to include a quote it would be that Intel does not comment on rumor or speculation.”
It remains to be seen if the chip giant will be more forthcoming when the West coast of the US wakes up later today.