Amid rising tensions with China, U.S. President Donald Trump demanded the resignation of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, accusing him of having conflicts of interest. In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump stated, “The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!” However, Trump provided no evidence or specifics to support his claims.
The demand followed a letter from Republican Senator Tom Cotton to Intel’s board, questioning Tan’s alleged connections to China, his investments in the country, and concerns about his previous leadership at Cadence Design Systems, which reportedly had ties to a Chinese military university.
Tan became Intel’s CEO in March and has since focused on restructuring the company to regain its competitive edge in the AI chip market, where it has fallen behind rivals like Nvidia and AMD. Under his leadership, Intel has implemented significant cost-cutting measures, including layoffs, scaling back manufacturing expansion plans, and selling non-core business units.
Intel was a key beneficiary of the Biden administration’s CHIPS Act, securing nearly $8 billion in funding to support domestic semiconductor manufacturing projects in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon.
Intel has not yet responded to requests for comment on Trump’s statements.
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