• Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger stepped down on Sunday, the company said Monday.
• The company has struggled in recent years to keep up with rivals like Nvidia in the chip race.
• Intel's share price was up more than 3% at the market open after it announced Gelsinger's departure.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has stepped down, the company said Monday in a statement, as the US chipmaker struggles to keep up in the global chip race.

Gelsinger leaves the chipmaker with immediate effect, vacating his roles as CEO and as a member of the board.

The 63-year-old executive's departure follows a clash with Intel's board of directors regarding his plan to gain ground against rival chipmaker Nvidia, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Gelsinger was reportedly offered the choice to step aside or be fired, the outlet said.

"Today is, of course, bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career," he said in a statement. "It has been a challenging year for all of us as we have made tough but necessary decisions to position Intel for the current market dynamics."

Two senior Intel executives, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, will lead the company during the search for a new CEO.

Intel, once a giant of Silicon Valley, has seen its share price drop almost 50% this year as it has faced multiple challenges.

Gelsinger's plans to revitalize the company included ambitions to build more factories in the US and Europe to scale its production capacity, as well as designing its own line of AI chips, named Gaudi, to take on the industry heavyweight Nvidia.

Many of these efforts have struggled, however. Last month, Gelsinger said the company was set to miss its target of $500 million in 2024 sales for Gaudi 3, its latest series of AI chips, due to software-related issues.

Gelsinger rolled out a sweeping set of initiatives earlier this year to turn the company around. In August, Intel laid off 15,000 employees, said it would suspend its dividend starting in the fourth quarter, and cut its capital spending.

Intel's stock price rose more than 3% when markets opened on Monday.

Frank Yeary, Intel's chair, thanked Gelsinger and said the company needed to restore investor confidence.

"While we have made significant progress in regaining manufacturing competitiveness and building the capabilities to be a world-class foundry, we know that we have much more work to do at the company and are committed to restoring investor confidence," Yeary said.

Intel received a boost last month as it was awarded $7.9 billion in federal grants through the US CHIPS Act.

Gelsinger was brought on in 2021 to lead the Santa Clara, California-headquartered company, with a remit to turn it into a powerhouse of the chip industry and close the gap with its Taiwanese rival TSMC.

He first joined Intel in 1979 and rose to become its chief technology officer in 2001. He then left the company in 2009 to join EMC, a subsidiary of Dell. In 2012, he became the CEO of the cloud-computing firm VMware before returning to Intel as its CEO in 2021.

• EV battery maker Northvolt has entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it said on Thursday.
• The Swedish firm, founded by two ex-Tesla executives, has struggled amid stuttering demand for EVs.
• Northvolt's CEO and cofounder Peter Carlsson will step down as part of the bankruptcy process.

Northvolt, the battery company founded by two former Tesla executives, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling to ramp up production.

Sweden-based Northvolt said on Thursday that it voluntarily entered bankruptcy proceedings in the US, which will allow it to restructure debt and obtain new investment.

Soon after the bankruptcy was announced, CEO Peter Carlsson, one of Northvolt's founders, said he would step down as part of the process.

Bankruptcy documents showed Northvolt had about $5.8 billion of debt, and just $30 million in available cash — enough to fund its operations for about seven days.

Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Microsoft were all listed as creditors in bankruptcy documents. It had raised more than $15 billion since its foundation in 2016.

Northvolt said it has secured extra funding of about $245 million, including $145 million in cash, and a $100 million commitment from a customer to provide a debtor-in-possession loan — a specialized credit line for firms going through bankruptcy.

"This decisive step will allow Northvolt to continue its mission to establish a homegrown, European industrial base for battery production," said Tom Johnstone, Northvolt's interim chair, in a statement.

"Despite near-term challenges, this action to strengthen our capital structure will allow us to capture the continued market demand for vehicle electrification."

Northvolt will continue operating during the bankruptcy proceedings.

Founded in 2016 by Carlsson and Paolo Cerutti, Northvolt aimed to revolutionize battery manufacturing but has struggled in recent months.

The firm's bankruptcy comes after difficulties in ramping up battery production at its facility in Skellefteå, Sweden, close to the Arctic Circle. In June, BMW pulled out of a $2.1 billion order for battery cells for its EVs, citing delays to deliveries.

In September, Northvolt said it would lay off about 1,600 staff.

Automakers in Europe are struggling with weak demand for EVs and rising competition from Chinese rivals.

On Wednesday, Ford said it would cut 4,000 jobs in Europe by the end of 2027.

Volkswagen, Europe's largest car company, is considering the closure of factories in Germany for the first time and cutting tens of thousands of jobs. VW faces stuttering demand in Europe and has lost market share in China to local rivals selling cheaper EVs and hybrids.