(Bloomberg) — Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger, who was hired in 2021 to lead an ambitious turnaround of the iconic chipmaker, will leave the job after the comeback sputtered and the company fell further behind rivals.

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Intel Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus are serving as interim co-CEOs while the board searches for Gelsinger’s replacement, the company said in a statement. Frank Yeary, independent chair of the board of Intel, will serve as interim executive chair.

Gelsinger, 63, was hailed as a savior of the chip pioneer, professing love for the company and his determination to restore it to preeminence in the semiconductor industry it defined. The executive began working at Intel when he was a teenager but left in 2009 and became CEO of VMware Inc. Upon returning to Intel, he promised to regain the chipmaker’s lead in manufacturing — something it had lost to rivals like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Intel’s shares rose more than 3% in early trading in New York Monday, following the announcement. They’re still down more than 50% this year.

Gelsinger set out to take Intel beyond its traditional strength in personal computer and server processors by expanding into making chips for other companies — something it had never done before and putting it into direct competition with TSMC and Samsung Electronics Co. As part of his revival strategy, Gelsinger laid out a costly plan to expand Intel’s factory network. That included building a massive new complex in Ohio, a project for which the company received federal aid from the Chips and Science Act.

The executive said last month he had a “lot of energy and passion,” still had the support of the board and was making progress. He expressed determination to keep the company together in the face of reports that it was the subject of takeover bids and said he was making progress on his plans. Intel’s board held a meeting last week.

“Today is, of course, bittersweet as this company has been my life for the bulk of my working career,” Gelsinger said in the statement. “It has been a challenging year for all of us as we have made tough but necessary decisions to position Intel for the current market dynamics.”

One of the biggest challenges Intel faced was the shake up of the industry in the form of artificial intelligence computing. Nvidia Corp., which turned its graphics chips into a key component for data centers, dominates that area and has taken tens of billions of dollars that once would have gone to Intel’s data center division. The one-time niche rival that struggled in Intel’s shadow made itself the world’s most valuable publicly-traded company, and Intel’s attempts to break into that market with new products have yet to take off.

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