Donald Trump has called for the newly appointed chief executive of Intel, Lip-Bu Tan, to resign, alleging that the semiconductor industry veteran is “highly conflicted”.
“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately,” Trump said in his post on his Truth Social website on Thursday. “There is no other solution to this problem.”
The US president’s post did not provide details of Tan’s alleged conflicts of interest. Trump’s broadside follows a letter from Republican Senator Tom Cotton to the US chipmaker’s board chair this week expressing “concern about the security and integrity of Intel’s operations” and Tan’s ties to China.
Tan has been a prolific investor in Chinese tech companies, through his San Francisco-based venture capital firm as well as companies based in Hong Kong. His past investments have included Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, China’s largest chip manufacturer.
RM Block
Before being appointed Intel CEO earlier this year, Tan ran California-based Cadence Design Systems, which last week admitted to violating US export controls by selling its chip design tools to a Chinese university with close ties to the military.
Intel and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s post. Intel shares dropped 3 per cent in pre-market trading in New York.
Tan was appointed as Intel CEO in March after the Silicon Valley company’s board ousted his predecessor Pat Gelsinger in December.
Intel is the only US-headquartered company capable of producing advanced semiconductors, though it has so far largely missed out on the current boom for artificial intelligence chips. It has been awarded billions of dollars in US government subsidies and loans to support its chip manufacturing business, which has fallen far behind its rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
Intel has a major presence in Ireland, having established a presence here in 1989 with a manufacturing base in Leixlip, Co Kildare.
According to its website, more than €30 billion has been invested in the Leixlip campus and 4,900 people work for Intel here. It also supports 115 suppliers here and accounted for 0.7 per cent of Irish GDP in 2023.
The Irish operation has been downsized in recent years as part of cuts imposed globally. Some 195 mandatory redundancies are expected at Intel’s Irish operations this autumn.
However, amid a radical cost-cutting programme, Tan warned last month that Intel might be forced to abandon development of its next-generation manufacturing technology if it were unable to secure a “significant external customer”. Such a move would hand a virtual monopoly of leading-edge chipmaking to TSMC.
“Intel is required to be a responsible steward of American taxpayer dollars and to comply with applicable security regulations,” Cotton wrote in Tuesday’s letter to Intel’s board chair, Frank Yeary. “Mr Tan’s associations raise questions about Intel’s ability to fulfill these obligations.” - Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
