Is Intel Cooked? + What’s Your P(Dyson Sphere)? + Hard Fork Gift Guide

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This week, Pat Gelsinger stepped down as chief executive of Intel. We talk with The New York Times’s Don Clark about why Gelsinger was ousted, what it means for the chip industry and how his departure could affect national security. Then, Kevin and Casey report back from an artificial intelligence conference, where experts debated how long it would take to build a structure around the sun to capture the star’s energy — also known as a Dyson sphere. And finally, gift guides have taken over the internet. We dig into why, and offer up suggestions for gear dads, home cooks and even tech billionaires in our first ever Hard Fork gift guide.

Guest:

• Don Clark, a New York Times contributor covering the chips industry.

Additional Reading:

• Intel’s Chief Executive Is Out Amid Chipmaker’s Struggles

• The Furious Contest to Unseat Nvidia as King of A.I. Chips

Credit…Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Seth Wenig/Associated Press

Credits

“Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton and produced by Rachel Cohn and Whitney Jones. The show is edited by Jen Poyant. Engineering by Daniel Ramirez and original music by Dan Powell, Elisheba Ittoop, Marion Lozano and Diane Wong. Fact-checking by Caitlin Love.

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Special thanks to Paula Szuchman, Pui-Wing Tam, Dahlia Haddad and Jeffrey Miranda.