When Pat GELSINGER took over as Intel’s chief executive in 2021 he seemed to possess the same impatient mindset as his mentor, Andy Grove, a former boss of the chipmaker famed for declaring that “Only the paranoid survive”. Barely a month into the job Mr Gelsinger unveiled a plan to restructure the business and advance through five generations of production technology within four years. Nearly four years on, however, it is Intel’s investors who have grown impatient. On December 2nd Intel announced that Mr Gelsinger would be retiring. That his departure is effective immediately, with a permanent successor yet to be appointed, suggests it was hardly voluntary. It leaves both Intel and the incoming Trump administration in an awkward spot.