Chips are down for Intel boss

The resignation of the company’s CEO over a moral infraction is an astounding display of ethics. We can learn from it

Aremarkable thing happened in the tech world last week — something that would be more astounding only if it occurred in the local political or business worlds. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigned after the semiconductor chip maker’s board found he “had a past consensual relationship with an Intel employee”.

It’s an entirely unexpected end to an otherwise stellar career for 58year-old Krzanich, who has been fighting to make Intel relevant in the post-pc world. He has pushed to move the chip maker from producing the processors used in PCS to those used in data centres and cellphones. Named CEO in May 2013, he oversaw a 120% rise in the firm’s share price.

But earlier this year Intel was hit with a huge scandal when two security vulnerabilities were revealed that could open chips designed by the company — and competitors AMD and ARM — to being hacked.

Intel said in a statement last week that “an ongoing investigation has confirmed a violation of Intel’s nonfraternisation policy, which applies to all managers. Given the expectation that all employees will respect Intel’s values and adhere to the company’s code of conduct, the board has accepted Krzanich’s resignation.”

Intel is one of the most iconic firms in the computer age. The company — along with Microsoft — made computers part of our everyday lives. It created the silicon processors that gave us personal computers; it is part of the firmament of our digital world.

For the CEO of such a firm to resign over a “past consensual relationship” — which reportedly ended before the married Krzanich got the top job — because it violated the company’s “nonfraternisation policy” is, frankly, remarkable.

Intel wants the world to know it has ethics and integrity, even if this means sacrificing its own CEO. And it’s done so in a period that is hardly plain sailing for chip makers, who have been under pressure as more consumers opt for smartphones over computers.

In the past few years, Qualcomm has stolen the limelight for its powerful mobile processors, while AMD’S Radeon graphics cards, which are used to mine cryptocurrencies, reportedly earned the chip maker 10% of its first-quarter revenue.

Meanwhile, it is rumoured that Apple will begin making its own chips by 2020 — it already uses its own Aseries processors in iphones, ipads, Apple TV and Homepod speakers. When speculation about Apple’s shift away from Intel broke in April, Intel’s share price dropped 6%. But it only lost 2% on the day Krzanich resigned. That can’t be good for a CEO’S ego.

But just drink this in: imagine if SA business people or politicians conducted themselves according to a code of conduct with this much ethical backbone. Can you imagine a Steinhoff or KPMG director, or a cabinet minister who ordered another R1m luxury car, behaving with such dignity by resigning?

If only.

Imagine a Steinhoff or KPMG director behaving with such dignity by resigning