CEO of Intel to join President Chiang for Purdue’s Presidential Lecture Series

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Intel Corp. Chief Executive Patrick Gelsinger, who has over four decades of technology leadership and experience in driving innovation, will join Purdue University President Mung Chiang as part of the Presidential Lecture Series. 

The public event, titled “Welcome to the Siliconomy: Semiconductors and the Supply Chain,” will kick off a lineup of campus activities marking Purdue Semiconductor Week on campus. The Gelsinger conversation, at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17, in Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse, is free, but a general admission ticket is required. There’s a no-bag policy for entrance to this event.

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"Pat Gelsinger is one of the most impactful leaders in the tech business world today, leading an iconic company of innovation in America," Chiang said. "As the institution with the largest undergrad STEM enrollment among the nation's top 50 universities, Purdue is excited to host his visit in our next Presidential Lecture Series event." 

Gelsinger has been Intel’s CEO since rejoining the microprocessor industry leader in February 2021, also serving on its board of directors. He launched his career at Intel in 1979, becoming its first chief technology officer and serving as senior vice president and general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group.

While at Intel, Gelsinger managed the creation of key industry technologies like USB and Wi-Fi. Gelsinger also was the architect of the original 80486 processor, led 14 microprocessor programs and played key roles in the Intel Core and Intel Xeon processor families, leading to Intel becoming the world’s preeminent microprocessor supplier. 

Additional Information

• Purdue Presidential Lecture Series
• Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger
• Purdue President Mung Chiang
• Semiconductors @Purdue
• Three-pronged Purdue Computes initiative announced
• Purdue launches oneAPI Center of Excellence
• Intel invests in U.S. semiconductor education and research
• U.S. CHIPS and Science Act

Named the youngest vice president in Intel’s history at age 32, Gelsinger was mentored by Intel CEO Andrew Grove and became the company’s chief technology officer in 2001. In this role, Gelsinger led several key technology developments including Wi-Fi, USB, Intel Core and Intel Xeon processors, and 14 chip projects.

Before returning to Intel three years ago, Gelsinger was CEO of VMware, where he transformed the company into a recognized global leader in cloud infrastructure, enterprise mobility and cybersecurity — almost tripling its annual revenue. While at VMware, Gelsinger was ranked as the top CEO in America in 2019 in Glassdoor’s annual employee survey.

Prior to joining VMware in 2012, Gelsinger was president and chief operating officer of the Information Infrastructure Products business at EMC (now Dell EMC), overseeing engineering and operations for information storage, data computing, backup and recovery, RSA security, and enterprise solutions. 

He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2008 and serves as a director of the Semiconductor Industry Association. He also is a member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. Gelsinger is also a published author and speaks frequently on faith, work and philanthropy.

In 2021 Gelsinger was appointed to serve on President Joe Biden’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, advising the president on the semiconductor chips shortage and advocating for the eventual passage of the CHIPS and Science Act.

Gelsinger was inducted into Indiana Wesleyan University’s Society of World Changers in October 2021. While speaking on its campus in Marion, he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree, and a bronze bust of Gelsinger was placed in the university’s library rotunda. In 2022 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering from Ohio State University.

He holds eight design patents, developed for communications, computer architecture and VLSI design, the process technically known as very large-scale integration for creating an integrated circuit by combining millions or billions of MOS transistors onto a single chip.

Gelsinger earned degrees in electrical engineering: an associate degree from Lincoln Technical Institute, a bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University and a master’s degree from Stanford University.

Raised on family farms in rural Robesonia, in an Amish and Mennonite part of Pennsylvania, Gelsinger received a high score on a Lincoln Tech electronics technology test as a teenager, winning an early-admission scholarship.

He skipped his final year at Conrad Weiser High School and left home at 16 for college. There, he earned the remainder of high school credits for graduation and worked at WFMZ-TV Channel 69 as a technician while obtaining his associate degree.

Gelsinger and his wife have been married for more than 30 years; they have four children and eight grandchildren.

The ties between Purdue and Intel are deep, long and wide. For years, the university and microprocessing industry giant have partnered on projects ranging from research collaborations and engagement activities to student internship, scholarship and fellowship programs for undergraduate and graduate students.

The California-based company was launched in 1968 as a startup by industry pioneers Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce.

About the Presidential Lecture Series

Launched in 2014 by then-Purdue President Mitch Daniels and continued by President Mung Chiang, the Presidential Lecture Series exposes Purdue students and the broader community to inspiring ideas, courageous leadership and models of civic engagement and civil discourse. The Presidential Lecture Series has had over 40 guests of many viewpoints and perspectives and hosted some of the great intellectual, business and civic leaders of our time. As one of the world’s premier centers of scholarly leadership, Purdue is — appropriately and necessarily — a regular venue for great thinkers across a wide variety of disciplines.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top 4 in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, with 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 12 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes, at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.

Writer and media contact: Phillip Fiorini, pfiorini@purdue.edu, 765-430-6189