US President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded the resignation of American chipmaker Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, over his alleged ties to China.
“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, leading Intel’s shares to fall around 4% in premarket trading.
His post came a day after Republican Sen. Tom Cotton sent an open letter to Intel’s board raising questions about Tan’s connections to semiconductor firms that are allegedly linked to the Chinese government and military.
Tan, who took over as CEO in March, was entrusted with turning around the fortunes of Intel, which has fallen behind in the AI chip race. The company is seen as strategically important to Washington’s efforts in seeking a national semiconductor champion to act as a counterweight to China’s global chip production, Semafor reported last year.