President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded the immediate resignation of Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, labeling him “highly conflicted” due to reported investments in Chinese firms, some allegedly linked to the Chinese military.
The statement, posted on Truth Social, caused Intel’s shares to drop nearly 3% in late morning trading.
“There is no other solution to this problem,” Trump wrote, marking a rare Presidential call for a corporate leader’s ouster.
The demand followed a Reuters report on Wednesday that Republican Sen. Tom Cotton had questioned Intel’s board about Tan’s ties to Chinese companies, citing a Reuters investigation from April. That report detailed Tan’s investments of at least $200 million in hundreds of Chinese advanced manufacturing and chip firms, including eight with connections to the People’s Liberation Army, based on Chinese corporate records and U.S. analyst lists.
Cotton’s letter to Intel’s board chair asked whether Tan had been requested to divest from these firms and if he had disclosed other China ties or subpoenas related to his former company, Cadence Design Systems. Tan, who served as Cadence’s CEO from 2008 to 2021, was linked to a case where Cadence sold products to a Chinese military university and later agreed to pay over $140 million to resolve U.S. charges, Reuters reported.
Intel, a key player in U.S. chipmaking, secured $8 billion in subsidies under the 2022 CHIPS Act to build factories in Ohio and other states. However, the company faces challenges, including a slowed Ohio factory project now set for completion around 2030 or 2031, and struggles to compete with rivals like Nvidia and AMD in artificial intelligence chips.
Intel’s market value, just under $90 billion, lags behind competitors, with shares down more than 2% on Thursday.
An Intel spokesperson, responding to Cotton’s letter, emphasized the company’s commitment to U.S. national security and its role in the defense ecosystem. Neither Intel nor Tan immediately responded to requests for comment on Trump’s statement.
Trump’s intervention has sparked mixed reactions.
“It would be setting a very unfortunate precedent. You don’t want American presidents dictating who runs companies, but certainly his opinion has merit and weight,” Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management, said, per Reuters.
David Wagner of Aptus Capital Advisors, an Intel shareholder, noted, “It’s just another signal that he’s very serious about trying to bring business back to the U.S.,” Reuters reported.
A White House official stated, “President Trump remains fully committed to safeguarding our country’s national and economic security. This includes ensuring iconic American companies in cutting-edge sectors are led by men and women who Americans can trust.”
Analyst Stacy Rasgon from Bernstein remarked, per Reuters, “We don’t believe Lip-Bu is ‘conflicted,’ though given the nature of this administration, the China ties are seemingly creating an increasingly bad look.”
Trump’s push aligns with his broader pressure on the semiconductor industry, including a proposed 100% tariff on imported chips to boost domestic production. Tan, appointed CEO in March, has scaled back Intel’s workforce and paused global factory plans, shifting away from his predecessor Pat Gelsinger’s strategies after Gelsinger’s ouster in late 2024.