(Bloomberg) — 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. CEO Lip-Bu Tan, according to people familar with the situation.
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The company has enlisted executive search firm Spencer Stuart to help find a new chief and is evaluating candidates, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. That includes looking well beyond Intel’s walls for talent — a break with tradition.
This week’s sudden ouster of CEO Pat Gelsinger set off an urgent search for new leadership at a time when the chipmaker’s fortunes are shaky and its bench has been depleted by years of management turnover. Gelsinger took the reins just three years ago, and since then has focused on a complex, expensive effort to turn the struggling company around.
That didn’t give him time to resurrect one of Intel’s other legacies — an executive training program that once supplied leaders for the rest of the industry. For now, Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and Executive Vice President Michelle Johnston Holthaus are serving as interim co-CEOs.
Marvell shares slipped as much as 2.3% on Tuesday after Bloomberg News reported that Murphy was under consideration. Intel fell more than 5% as of 1:09 p.m. in New York, continuing a retreat that began Monday.
All but one of the company’s leaders since its foundation in 1968 have been homegrown, and the exception, Bob Swan, was given the job as a stopgap measure when the board was forced to remove Brian Krzanich. That drama broke a run of carefully choreographed successions that contributed to the company’s five decades of stability. Krzanich’s tenure also saw the departure of a number of Intel veterans.
As the board hunts for Gelsinger’s permanent replacement, analysts say, it may be hard-pressed to choose from within, partly because the earlier exodus means there are fewer strong internal candidates. On the other hand, there’s little optimism that the company will be able to bring in an external savior who can shake things up immediately.
“It may be challenging to find a replacement with the right experience and background, with the capacity to manage a complex organization such as Intel and able to effectively deal with the multitude of headwinds,” KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst John Vinh wrote in a note Monday.
