Intel's next chief executive officer will have manufacturing expertise as well as experience in the product side of the business, interim co-CEO David Zinsner said on Wednesday.

Interim Intel co-CEO David Zinsner said on Wednesday that the chipmaker’s “core strategy remains intact” and offered further clarification on what its board is seeking.

Gelsinger, CEO since 2021, had a 40-plus-year career at Intel. He was betting the company on 18A, a new chipmaking process hoping it would be a viable alternative to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., (TSMC) the world’s leading contract manufacturer of chips, Fortune ’s Jeremy Kahn recently reported.

Intel on Wednesday explained why its board of directors chose Michelle Johnston Holthaus, a longtime sales and channel leader within the company, as interim co-CEO and CEO of the Intel Products Group.

On the heels of impactful financial news — much of it negative — Intel made the surprise announcement this week that CEO Pat Gelsinger has retired. The semiconductor chipmaker

Gelsinger spent most of his career at Intel, rising to chief technology officer before leaving to run VMWare in 2012 and then returning as CEO in 2021. He was generally well respected by Wall Street and industry insiders, but on his watch, the stock underperformed the market as Intel lost ground in the AI race to Nvidia.

Intel Corp.’s search for a new chief executive officer will focus heavily on outsiders, with the chipmaker considering candidates such as Marvell Technology Inc. head Matt Murphy and former Cadence Design Systems Inc.