Former Intel CEO on What Went Wrong, What's Next + Lovable CEO on the Real Promise of Vibe Coding

The former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, who spent 34 years at the company, describes a company that was once the crown jewel of American technology but then "absolutely went off the rails." The core problem, he argues, was not a single bad decision but a slow cultural shift away from technical leadership toward financial management. When business leaders replaced technologists at the top, the company stopped making the hard, expensive bets that had defined its success under Andy Grove and Gordon Moore. The result was a cascade of missed opportunities that allowed Apple, TSMC, and NVIDIA to each capture a piece of what Intel had owned.

When Business Leaders Run a Technology Company

Gelsinger draws a sharp distinction between how Intel was run in its prime and how it was run before his return. "When I joined the executive staff for the first time, there was probably 15 of the 20 people that were in the room were PhDs," he recalls. The company was run by deeply technical leaders who understood that some investments look bad on a spreadsheet but are necessary because of where technology is heading. "When you're making these hardcore technical decisions that affect billions of dollars, that's a lousy investment, unless the technology trends make it the right investment."