The comfort in being Intel is that big problems often seem a long way out. The surprise resignation of the company’s chief executive makes them seem uncomfortably close.
Intel is now being forced to face some of those issues now—at least in the sense of finding the right person to address them. Those problems aren’t near term in nature; Intel, in fact, is expected to see its best sales growth this year since 2011, along with record earnings. But questions such as the company’s future leadership in chip-making processes and...