Since he took over as CEO of Intel, Pat Gelsinger has been a fixture in the company. Earlier this year, he stated that the firm had refocused its efforts on restoring uncontested market leadership.

In a new interview with Axios, he lays the blame for Intel's current problems squarely on the shoulders of his predecessors. The chip manufacturer is still running low on supply. Gelsinger does not name names, but he claims that Intel had forgotten exactly what kind of company it was. Most of the previous top people were not engineers, but rather businesspeople. According to the new CEO, they were overly focused on new market niches and lost sight of the importance of production.

He wants Intel to reclaim its position as the world's leading chip manufacturer. "Our competition is afraid of us because we always follow through on our promises," Gelsinger explained. Intel said earlier this year that it would be the company's first customer for high-demand EUV production at 3 nanometers, which will be provided by ASML. It is also committing $18.5 billion to the development of Irish industry. 

The CEO also hopes Alder Lake is good enough to get Apple back.

"Apple decided they could make better chips than us and they did it very well," said the Intel CEO. And that he never gives up the idea that something is not working with Intel chips. "Now what I have to do is make better chips than them," says Gelsinger.

Losing Apple as a partner means gaining a rival, as Apple has decided to equip its computers with its own chips. So Intel has to worry about the places that both AMD and Apple are occupying and which, in Pat Gelsinger's mind, should be places that Intel dominates. "I hope to get this part of the business back, as well as many other businesses over time," said Pat Gelsinger.

Intel CEO blames his predecessors for declining competitive position