Changes in Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger’s exit leave the chip maker’s IT services unclear, its chip producing uncertain, and its future direction unclear.

The resignation of CEO Pat Gelsinger, was clearly a milestone in the turnaround operations of Gelsinger and the turnaround. Gelsinger leaves the board, having aggressively turned around the company and following some concerns about the company's future. Now questions loom about the company's commitment to its increasingly ambiguous IT services and manufacturing strategy. These questions particularly surfaced in the AI arena.

Under Gelsinger's leadership, Intel embarked on a journey intended to diversify its IT services into chip production for external consumption by introducing a service capability. In its final stage to depend less on the declining income from traditional CPU markets threatened by ever-increasing AI-driven chips, this cut accounted for all major business projections. Complicating the company's delicacy further has been the delay in meeting manufacturing deadlines while AI giants like Nvidia (NVDA) continue to pump out tough competition.

Analysts are wary of the legal cases against Intel even. Intel is being sued by two investors claiming fraud, for making misleading statements regarding its overall financial performance. The second of the lawsuits came just as the firm decided to lay off 15,000 employees, casting even further doubts on its financial viability.

Now that Intel is considering potential candidates to take over the reins of leadership, things become foggy for the company's plans on IT services and artificial intelligence projects. New leadership will grapple with cost management, legal challenges, as well as the ever dynamic and fast-changing world of artificial intelligence as they seek to restore investor morale and profitability for Intel moving forward.