Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigns after relationship with employee is revealed

Intel announced today CEO Brian Krzanich has resigned from his position following the reveal of a past "consensual relationship" with an Intel employee. The move stems from an internal investigation that found Krzanich's relationship violated the company's non-fraternization policy that applies to all managers (via Anandtech).

From Intel:

Intel was recently informed that Mr. Krzanich had a past consensual relationship with an Intel employee. An ongoing investigation by internal and external counsel has confirmed a violation of Intel's non-fraternization policy, which applies to all managers. Given the expectation that all employees will respect Intel's values and adhere to the company's code of conduct, the board has accepted Mr. Krzanich's resignation.

According to sources speaking with CNBC, the relationship occurred "some time back," but Intel recently found out about the tryst and Krzanich was asked to resign.

Krzanich has also resigned his position on Intel's board of directors.

Replacing Krzanich on an interim basis will be current Intel CFO, Bob Swan. The company says it "has a robust succession planning process in place and has begun a search for a permanent CEO."

Krzanich initially joined Intel in 1982 before becoming COO in 2012. The exec was then promoted to the position of CEO in 2013, where he had guided the company's strategy since.

The move comes as Intel is facing increased pressure from both AMD and Qualcomm in the PC space. AMD has recently seen a resurgence of sorts with its Ryzen processor lineup, while Qualcomm is working closely with Microsoft on its efforts with Windows 10 on ARM PCs. Intel also has plans to enter the discrete GPU market in 2020, a market which NVIDIA and AMD currently dominate.