President Trump early Thursday called for the resignation of Intel (INTC) CEO Lip-Bu Tan in a post on social media.
“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns. “There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!”
Tan was named Intel’s CEO back in March, taking over from Pat Gelsinger’s tumultuous tenure that saw the company’s stock plummet and the chipmaker fall behind in the AI race. Investors cheered Tan’s appointment, with the stock rising as much as 15% after the news, and Wall Street analysts as well as current and former executives and employees saw Tan as the best possibility to succeed in turning around the troubled company.
Intel stock fell over 3% following Trump’s post.
In April, a Reuters report detailed Tan’s wide-ranging investments in Chinese companies made through his VC firm, Walden International. The outlet found that the firm “remains invested in 20 funds and companies alongside Chinese government funds or state-owned enterprises, according to Chinese corporate databases.”
Tan has served on boards and in various executive roles at 14 firms in the semiconductor space, most notably including his tenure as CEO of Cadence Design Systems, a chip design software company.
Trump’s post came a day after one of his top Senate allies, Republican Tom Cotton, wrote a letter to Intel’s board chair questioning Tan’s China ties.
“Intel is required to be a responsible steward of American taxpayer dollars and to comply with applicable security regulations,” Cotton wrote, pointing to Intel’s nearly $8 billion grant from the CHIPS Act. “Mr. Tan’s associations raise questions about Intel’s ability to fulfill these obligations.”
Intel did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance’s request for comment.
Shares of Intel are up just 1.8% for the year, lagging other chip stocks such as AMD (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO), and market leader Nvidia (NVDA).
In late July, Intel shares sank after the company reported that it would cut its workforce by 15% in an attempt to pare costs as it struggles to revive its ailing chip manufacturing business.
Intel both designs and manufactures chips for itself and has, in recent years, tried to produce chips for third-party customers to boost its manufacturing business. So far, efforts have fallen short. The company said in its latest earnings report that it’s scrapping an attempt to make its latest manufacturing process technology, called 18A, available to its customers, something analysts had been calling crucial to its turnaround efforts and ability to catch up to rival chip manufacturer TSMC (TSM).
Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @laurabratton.bsky.social. Email her at laura.bratton@yahooinc.com.
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