India, Jan. 14 -- Intel has bowed to investor pressure and instigated a change of leadership, replacing Bob Swan with current VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger.

"Today's announcement is unrelated to Intel's 2020 financial performance," announced the company.

And just to hammer home the point, it added that it "expects to exceed" its guidance for fourth-quarter revenue and earnings per share, which it will release on January 21.

Which tells a part of the story, sure.

But that doesn't mean investors hadn't breathed heavily down the neck of the Santa Clara chipmaker until it swapped captain.

Swan, who leaves on February 15, is "a class act and did the right thing for all stake holders stepping aside for Gelsinger," tweets Daniel Loeb, founder of...