WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump called on the chief executive officer of Intel Corp Tan Lip-Bu to resign because of what he called conflicts of interest, adding to the challenges for a company that is supposed to anchor restoration of the US semiconductor industry.

“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social on Aug 7.

“There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!”

Intel said in a statement on Aug 7: “Intel, The Board of Directors, and Lip-Bu Tan are deeply committed to advancing US national and economic security interests and are making significant investments aligned with the President’s America First agenda.

“We look forward to our continued engagement with the Administration.”

This week, Republican Senator Tom Cotton asked the chairman of Intel’s board to answer questions about Mr

Tan’s ties to China

, including investments in the country’s semiconductor companies and others with connections to the country’s military.

In a letter to Mr Frank Yeary, who oversees the chipmaker’s board of directors, Mr Cotton asked about investments Mr Tan made in China before

he was picked to run Intel.

Mr Cotton noted specific concerns about Mr Tan’s ties to Cadence Design Systems Inc, a tech company he led for over a decade which sold products to a Chinese military university.

The company pleaded guilty in July to violating US export controls by selling hardware and software to China’s National University of Defence Technology.

Mr Tan is an industry veteran in technology and venture capital.

During his 12 years as CEO of Cadence, which he joined in 2008 when the chip-design software company was struggling, the company’s share price grew more than 3,000 per cent.

Mr Tan, 65, took the reins at Intel in March, seeking to turn around the iconic chipmaker after it had lost ground to rivals in recent years. 

Intel is a critical piece of Washington’s efforts to rebuild the domestic semiconductor industry.

The company had been awarded almost US$8 billion (S$10.27 billion) from the Chips and Science Act for US investments, including a facility to supply the US military, although the Trump administration is making changes to the programme.

The Santa Clara, California-based company long led the semiconductor market by producing faster and faster chips to power personal computers and laptops, but it struggled as computing migrated to smartphones and artificial intelligence has grown in importance.

Nvidia Corp has pioneered AI chips development, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co has become the world’s biggest semiconductor producer by manufacturing chips for companies like Nvidia and Apple Inc.

Intel’s market valuation was about US$89 billion as of Aug 6’s closing price compared with US$4.4 trillion for Nvidia.

Malaysian-born Tan has vowed to spin off Intel assets that aren’t central to its mission and create more compelling products.

He has pushed a plan to slash jobs and delayed or cancelled projects to reduce operating expenses.

“Intel and Mr Tan are deeply committed to the national security of the United States and the integrity of our role in the US defence ecosystem,” the company said in a statement on Aug 6.

Intel said it would address the matters in the letter with the senator.

Intel shares fell 3.8 per cent in premarket trading before markets opened in New York. BLOOMBER G

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