In the midst of increasing disputes with China, US President Donald Trump asserted on Thursday that CEO of Intel, Lip-Bu Tan, step down. Trump accused Tan of having conflicts of interest.
Trump went on his social media platform, Truth Social, and posted that:
“The CEO of Intel is deeply conflicted and must quit immediately. There are no other solutions to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump provided no proof or details on why Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan may have conflicts of interest. On Wednesday, Republican Senator Tom Cotton wrote to Intel’s board of directors, raising concerns about Tan’s alleged ties to China and investments in the country. Tan previously led Cadence Design Systems, which had a customer from a Chinese military university.
Tan, who took over the head in March, has focused on boosting efficiency at the chipmaker, which has fallen behind firms like Nvidia and AMD in the AI chip race. Tan’s efforts to refocus the corporation on engineering include layoffs, reduced plans for new manufacturing units, and the sale of non-core assets.
Intel pledged about $8 billion to establish manufacturing and packaging facilities in Arizona, New Mexico, Ohio, and Oregon as part of the Biden administration’s CHIPS Act initiative.
