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.