Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has responded to President Donald Trump’s call for his resignation over alleged conflicts of interest. In a memo sent to staff on Thursday, Tan said those concerns are based on “misinformation.”
Tan joined the struggling chipmaker back in March. He was in the middle of trying to get the company back on track when he found himself in Trump’s crosshairs.
“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social early Thursday morning.
The post came just a day after Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas sent a letter to Intel’s Board Chairman Frank Yeary, raising questions about Tan’s investments in Chinese chip companies and their alleged ties to China’s government and military.
He highlighted specific concerns about Tan’s former role as CEO of Cadence Design Systems, a position he held for 13 years until 2021. In July, the company pleaded guilty to violating U.S. export controls by selling hardware and software to China’s National University of Defense Technology without obtaining the required licenses.
Cotton also pointed out that Intel was awarded nearly $8 billion from the CHIPS and Science Act and said that Tan’s associations “raise questions” about Intel’s ability to steward American taxpayer dollars.
In his memo to staff, Tan fired back at those claims.
“I want to be absolutely clear: Over 40+ years in the industry, I’ve built relationships around the world and across our diverse ecosystem – and I have always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards,” wrote Tan.
He added that Intel is working with the Trump Administration to address “the matters that have been raised and ensure they have the facts.”
Just last month, Tan had outlined his plan to reduce headcount, cut spending—including scrapping plans for new factories in Germany and Poland—and a new AI strategy to make Intel more competitive with its rivals.
Trump has been no stranger to arm-twisting business leaders into doing what he wants. In addition to using tariffs to push companies to invest more in the United States, Trump has also called on Walmart to eat the rising costs of tariffs and Coca-Cola to switch to cane sugar instead of corn syrup. Unfortunately for Tan, he hasn’t done much to get on Trump’s good side. Other tech CEOs like Apple’s Tim Cook, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have all met personally with Trump in efforts to advance their own business agendas.
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