Trump Signals Cooldown In Intel Feud

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s “success and rise is an amazing story,” President Donald Trump said Monday.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan appears to have won President Donald Trump over after the two met Monday amid calls by the president for Tan to resign.

In a post to Trump-affiliated social media network Truth Social, the president said that Tan’s “success and rise is an amazing story,” a sharp contrast to a post he made Thursday calling Tan “highly CONFLICTED” and calling on the CEO to “resign, immediately.”

In the latest post, Trump said his meeting with Tan, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent “was a very interesting one.” Tan and members of the Trump cabinet “are going to spend time together, and bring suggestions to me during the next week,” the president wrote.

Trump Feud With Intel

CRN has reached out to the White House, the Department of Commerce and the Treasury for comment.

In a statement emailed to CRN, an Intel spokesperson confirmed that “earlier today, Mr. Tan had the honor of meeting with President Trump for a candid and constructive discussion on Intel’s commitment to strengthening U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership.”

“We appreciate the President’s strong leadership to advance these critical priorities and look forward to working closely with him and his Administration as we restore this great American company,” according to the statement.

Trump’s Intel comments appeared prompted by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton’s letter to Intel’s chairman raising concerns about the CEO’s alleged connection to Chinese firms. Tan addressed the concerns in an online post Thursday, saying that he has “always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards.”

Tan became Intel CEO in March and has been trying to turn around the chipmaker’s fortunes as it battles with competitors in the growing market for chips to power artificial intelligence.

Trump has had his eye on the semiconductor market, with Intel rivals Nvidia and AMD recently agreeing to pay the U.S. 15 percent of their China sales revenue for an export control license to sell Nvidia H20 and AMD MI308 chips to the country and Chinese companies, according to CNBC.