Ex-Intel CEO Aims to Revive Moore’s Law Using Light

After Pat Gelsinger left his role as Intel CEO in late 2024, he didn’t take a vacation. Instead, he embarked on a grueling schedule: 100 meetings in 100 days. The goal, as he explained to WIRED recently, was to methodically narrow his options until a clear path emerged.

By March of the following year, Gelsinger announced his next move: joining Playground Capital as a general partner. This venture capital firm specializes in deep tech, backing startups built on emerging scientific breakthroughs. Gelsinger took the position with a singular mission: to help a new wave of semiconductor companies revive Moore’s Law.

Decades ago, Intel cofounder Gordon Moore predicted that the number of transistors on a chip would roughly double every two years, driving corresponding gains in performance. For years, that prediction held. But as chipmakers push against the fundamental limits of physics, shrinking transistors to atomic scales has become prohibitively difficult and expensive.

Gelsinger is convinced the solution lies in advancing lithography,the process of etching chips using beams of light measured in nanometers. The current state-of-the-art, developed by Dutch firm ASML, uses 13.5-nanometer wavelength light. If manufacturers can print even smaller features, the logic goes, they can pack in more transistors and unlock far more powerful processors.

Upon joining Playground, Gelsinger took a board seat at xLight, a portfolio company developing novel lithography techniques. xLight recently secured investment from the U. S. government. During our conversation, Gelsinger repeatedly invoked the phrase, “God said, ‘Let there be light!’”

As artificial intelligence reshapes the software industry, a growing number of venture capital firms are pivoting toward deep tech. But Gelsinger argues that few are as well positioned as he is to identify the true winners.

WIRED met Gelsinger in early July at the RAISE Summit conference in Paris. We discussed his approach to vetting deep tech founders, the evolving U. S. government stance on AI and semiconductors, and why progress in these fields is inherently linked.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

WIRED: About four months passed between your departure from Intel and your arrival at Playground. What was going through your mind during that time?

PAT GELSINGER: My wife said, “You’re not done yet.”

I looked at government roles, university roles, CEO roles, private equity, and venture. It was a deductive process. I decided I didn’t want to do any more public earnings calls. I didn’t see myself as a politician. That narrowed it down to private equity or venture.

I want to do things that matter,things that, if they succeed, make a real difference,with people I enjoy.

Why did you rule out private equity?

Private equity writes bigger checks, but it’s less focused on the technology itself. At this stage of my career, do I want to write big checks and worry about financial returns? Or do I want to work on cool tech?

We’re operating at the edge of science, proving things out. That’s always been my nature. I love tech.

Many VCs are shifting toward deep tech as AI disrupts the software industry. How do you see AI changing where the next investment opportunities lie?

The door has blown wide open.

In 2024, the semiconductor industry aimed to hit a trillion dollars by 2030. Now, we’ll hit that mark next year. I don’t need my companies to dominate the market to generate extraordinary returns. I just need them to capture a decent share. That’s what AI has done for deep tech venture.

The good news is that many venture firms are swinging in that direction. The bad news is that, for the most part, they’ve forgotten how to do deep tech,how to pick the winners and losers.