Technology

Intel considers an outside CEO, taps headhunters, sources say

Published

12 months ago

December 3, 2024

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Signage outside Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, California, on Jan. 30, 2023.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Intel is considering hiring an external candidate to replace ousted CEO Pat Gelsinger and has hired executive search firm Spencer Stuart to identify potential successors, according to people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions.

Intel’s board has also made overtures to recently departed director Lip-Bu Tan about whether he would be interested in the top job at the struggling chipmaker, said one of the people.

An outside CEO would break from tradition at the chipmaker, which has historically promoted from within. While Gelsinger was hired from VMware in 2021, he had spent decades at the company in roles of increasing seniority. Gelsinger’s predecessor Bob Swan was Intel’s first true outside hire, but Swan was considered by many to be a stop-gap CEO and was then removed amid pressure from activist investor Third Point.

The shortlist of candidates could not be fully learned, but Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter reported that Marvell chief Matt Murphy was among those being considered.

Representatives for Intel did not return multiple requests for comment. Tan, whose involvement in the replacement process was first reported by Reuters, could not be reached for comment.

Interim executive chair Frank Yeary and a board-level committee are overseeing the search for a new CEO, Intel disclosed in a regulatory filing, and the process remains in its early stages.

Intel’s board may opt for an internal promotion, and internal candidates could include CFO David Zinsner or Intel products chief MJ Holthaus, the interim co-CEOs.

Intel abruptly ousted CEO Pat Gelsinger over the weekend, with people familiar with the matter previously saying that the board had lost faith in his ability to execute on a turnaround at the chipmaker, which has been lagging behind Nvidia for more than a year.

Gelsinger will receive roughly $10 million in severance, Intel disclosed in a regulatory filing.

Technology

Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that startup’s robots could ‘fracture a human skull’

Published

6 hours ago

November 21, 2025

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$Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that startup's robots could 'fracture a human skull'$

Startup Figure AI is developing general-purpose humanoid robots.

Figure AI

Figure AI, an Nvidia-backed developer of humanoid robots, was sued by the startup’s former head of product safety who alleged that he was wrongfully terminated after warning top executives that the company’s robots “were powerful enough to fracture a human skull.”

Robert Gruendel, a principal robotic safety engineer, is the plaintiff in the suit filed Friday in a federal court in the Northern District of California. Gruendel’s attorneys describe their client as a whistleblower who was fired in September, days after lodging his “most direct and documented safety complaints.”

The suit lands two months after Figure was valued at $39 billion in a funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital. That’s a 15-fold increase in valuation from early 2024, when the company raised a round from investors including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Microsoft.

In the complaint, Gruendel’s lawyers say the plaintiff warned Figure CEO Brett Adcock and Kyle Edelberg, chief engineer, about the robot’s lethal capabilities, and said one “had already carved a ¼-inch gash into a steel refrigerator door during a malfunction.”

The complaint also says Gruendel warned company leaders not to “downgrade” a “safety road map” that he had been asked to present to two prospective investors who ended up funding the company.

Gruendel worried that a “product safety plan which contributed to their decision to invest” had been “gutted” the same month Figure closed the investment round, a move that “could be interpreted as fraudulent,” the suit says.

The plaintiff’s concerns were “treated as obstacles, not obligations,” and the company cited a “vague ‘change in business direction’ as the pretext” for his termination, according to the suit.

Gruendel is seeking economic, compensatory and punitive damages and demanding a jury trial.

Figure didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did attorneys for Gruendel.

The humanoid robot market remains nascent today, with companies like Tesla and Boston Dynamics pursuing futuristic offerings, alongside Figure, while China’s Unitree Robotics is preparing for an IPO. Morgan Stanley said in a report in May that adoption is “likely to accelerate in the 2030s” and could top $5 trillion by 2050.

Read the filing here: