Intel's fired CEO Pat Gelsinger reveals the two things his competitor Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang got right that he couldn't

Intel's fired CEO Pat Gelsinger identified two critical factors that helped competitor Nvidia dominate the AI chip market while Intel faltered. Speaking on Yahoo Finance's Opening Bid, Gelsinger praised Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's execution capabilities and strategic product advantages.
"They are executing well," Gelsinger said. "At the end of the day, Jensen is on it — driving his teams to stay in the front end."
Intel, once the dominant chipmaker in Silicon Valley, has struggled to retain its position during the AI boom. Despite reportedly considering an acquisition of Nvidia years ago, Intel failed to capitalize on the explosive growth in AI chip demand that has propelled Nvidia to a market valuation exceeding $3 trillion — more than 30 times Intel's current worth.

The first advantage Gelsinger highlighted was Nvidia's superior execution. He noted that Nvidia has managed to "run hard to stay in the front" in the silicon AI accelerator market while Intel fell behind.
The second was Nvidia's creation of "meaningful moats" — sustainable competitive advantages that protect the company from rivals. He specifically mentioned Nvidia's proprietary technologies like NVLink, which enables multiple GPUs to connect within a server, and CUDA, which accelerates computing applications.

While he didn't said explicitly said that Jensen did something that he couldn't do during his time at Intel, but it's evident how his stint ended at the company.
The company's decline accelerated as it missed crucial technological shifts, including the explosion in AI chip demand. Intel's manufacturing delays dating back to 2015 opened the door for competitors, with TSMC enabling companies like Nvidia to design cutting-edge chips without needing their own factories.
This missed opportunity contributed to Intel's significant financial challenges, with the company reporting billions in losses last year and its stock dropping nearly 50% in 2024. Gelsinger, who returned to Intel as CEO in 2021 after a 30-year career at the company and stints at Dell and VMware, implemented sweeping layoffs and buyouts before his abrupt departure in December.
Intel's new CEO, electronics industry veteran Lip-Bu Tan, who took over in March, has been candid about the company's failures. "We had been too slow to adapt and to meet your needs," Tan acknowledged at a recent Intel event in Las Vegas. "You deserve better, and we need to improve, and we will. Please be brutally honest with us."