Trump Calls For Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan To Resign
The demand by President Donald Trump for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign ‘immediately’ came after Sen. Tom Cotton raised concerns about ‘Intel’s operations and its potential impact on U.S. national security’ related to a report alleging Tan’s ties with Chinese companies.
President Donald Trump on Thursday called for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign “immediately,” claiming that the U.S. semiconductor leader is “highly conflicted.”
Trump made the demand in a short, three-sentence post on his Truth Social website, adding that “there is no other solution to this problem.”
[Related: Intel’s Earnings Bombshell: Layoffs, Foundry Warning And Other Things To Know]
The president didn’t elaborate on why he sees Tan, who joined Intel as CEO in March to lead the chipmaker’s latest turnaround effort, as conflicted.
Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company’s stock price was down more than 2 percent Thursday morning.
The call for Tan to resign came two days after Sen. Tom Cotton expressed concerns in a letter to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary about “Intel’s operations and its potential impact on U.S. national security,” claiming that Tan “reportedly controls dozens of Chinese companies and has a stake in hundreds of Chinese advanced-manufacturing and chip firms.”
Reuters reported in April that Tan “has invested in hundreds of Chinese tech firms, including at least eight with links to the People’s Liberation Army.”
Trump’s demand also happened a day after he vowed to put a 100 percent tariff on semiconductor imports except for those made by companies that are “building in the United States.” Intel has a major manufacturing footprint in the U.S.
Tan Is Leading Intel’s Latest Turnaround Effort
Tan is leading the latest turnaround effort for the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company after several years of struggles and waning fortunes.
A key part of this turnaround effort involved a 15 percent reduction in Intel’s workforce that he announced two weeks ago. The company at the time said it “plans to end the year with a core workforce of about 75,000 employees,” which means it is expected to lose about 24,500 workers this year through layoffs and attrition, or about one-quarter of its head count.
“These actions are necessary, not just to reduce our operating expenses, but to make the company more agile, collaborative and vibrant, to simplify our business and improve our product and process execution,” Tan said on the earnings call last Thursday.
Among his initiatives, Tan is making one last push for the Intel Foundry contract chip manufacturing business to win over big customers so that it can compete with Asian foundry giants TSMC and Samsung, which are both building manufacturing capacity in the U.S.
Intel admitted in late July that it has been “unsuccessful to date in securing any significant external foundry customers” for Intel Foundry, which was launched in 2021 by former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger as a key part of his comeback plan and to boost chip-making in the U.S.
The company also warned that it “may pause or discontinue” development of Intel 14A—a manufacturing technology it originally planned to introduce in late 2026—and future leading-edge nodes if it is “unable to secure a significant external customer” for the process.
However, Tan said at the time that he’s confident this worst-case scenario won’t play out.
“The team is laser-focused, and the feedback from the partners and outside is that, ‘Wow, Lip-Bu, the culture is changing, and you guys are really focused on the yield, better than just performance,’” he said on Intel’s second-quarter earnings call last week.
At the same time, Intel said last month that it was slowing down construction for a major manufacturing site in Ohio and canceling projects in Germany and Poland as part of a “new financial discipline” instituted by Tan.
“Perhaps most importantly, we need to build capacity smartly and carefully on a schedule that meets the needs of our customers and supports the economics of our business,” he said.