Playground’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) is where we gather the people building the future — the engineers, scientists, founders, operators, and investors taking on problems that most consider out of reach. This year, those conversations led up to one final reveal: the announcement that Pat Gelsinger would be joining Playground as our newest General Partner.
The room didn’t need a recap of Pat’s resume. Most people there already knew the arc: lead engineer on the 386 at Intel, then CTO, then VMware CEO, then back to Intel as CEO. What mattered — and what came through clearly in the conversation — was that he’s still an engineer at heart.
The conversation opened with a reflection on how the definition of computing itself is changing — from the physics of quantum systems to the biology of living cells. “We’re at an inflection point,” Pat said. “Just like the early PC era. Only now, the substrate of computing is expanding.”
Peter expanded on that: “We’ve seen paradigm shifts before. But this one feels like it’s colliding with every domain at once — physics, chemistry, manufacturing, medicine.” Pat agreed. “That’s why I’m here.”
Pat shared the story of his first job at Intel — a 23-year-old engineer trying to ship the 386 chip while the computers used to test it kept crashing. (Spoiler alert: He told Andy Grove to fix the computers or the chip wouldn’t ship. It worked.) But it wasn’t nostalgia — it was a reminder: great engineering cultures are forged in the middle of hard problems.
The room laughed, but he was serious. Pat has had nearly 100 meetings since stepping down from Intel, but he made it clear: he’s not interested in short-term hype cycles. He’s here for the problems that don’t get solved in a quarter — the ones that take a decade and still might not work. “That’s where the real impact lives,” he said.
Pat spoke about his decision to join Playground in engineering terms. He’d spent months evaluating options after stepping down from Intel — talking to venture and PE firms, policy groups, government organizations. What drew him here, he said, was the technical depth. “You walk into most venture firms and see IPO tombstones. You walk into Playground and see hardware rigs, quantum systems, and synthetic biology experiments. It’s a place where people are solving real problems.”
Watch the replay of Pat Gelsinger announcing he is joining Playground Global as general partner at the firm’s 2025 AGM:
From there, the conversation dug into the kinds of challenges that define this moment in computing — and how they extend beyond semiconductors. Pat and Peter covered everything from next-gen lithography and optical systems to programmable biology and quantum hardware. The kinds of complex systems problems that require long timelines, interdisciplinary thinking, and serious engineering rigor.
This wasn’t your typical fireside chat. It was two technologists tracing the arc of a career spent shaping the future of compute — and why that work matters. Pat is joining a team of engineers to help founders think through system architecture, manufacturability, and the hard constraints that define frontier tech. He’s already doing that with xLight, where he’s working alongside the team as a Board Member and executive Chair reimagining semiconductor lithography with free electron lasers.
We’re lucky to have Pat on the team. Not just for his experience, but for his mindset: humble, ambitious, deeply technical, and committed to doing the hard things.
Welcome to Playground, Pat.
