President Donald Trump shouts to reporters from the roof of the White House. (Photo by Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)
President Donald Trump called for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign Thursday, citing controversy over his investments in China.
"The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday morning.
Trump’s post marks an extraordinary intervention in a private-sector company, and an escalation of his years-long practice of pressuring companies through his social media bully pulpit. Trump’s criticisms of companies on X and Truth Social have temporarily tanked their stock prices. If Tan steps down, the ouster would be another display of the ways Trump has expanded the traditional boundaries of presidential power.
Trump has used social media to announce plans to fire government employees. Just last week, he announced his plans to oust head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Truth Social.
The White House did not immediately specify Trump’s concerns, but the president’s demand came after Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) sent a letter to Intel’s board chair this week saying there were national security concerns over Tan’s business ties to China.
Cotton wrote that Tan’s investments raised questions over whether Intel could be a responsible steward of American taxpayer dollars” and if it could comply with applicable security regulations.
Reuters reported in April that Tan, a Malaysian-born naturalized American executive, had investments in hundreds of Chinese tech firms. While investments in China have not been unusual for tech industry executives, they are increasingly under scrutiny amid a tense race in AI technologies.
The role of chips as a dual-use technology - critical for both the civilian economy and the military - also increases the sensitivity for the sector’s investment ties.
Intel’s performance struggles have been under US policymakers’ microscope. The company is the largest recipient of billions of dollars in grants under the CHIPS and Science Act, a major bipartisan program to improve the competitiveness of the US computer chip industry, with implications for the AI race.
Despite the federal grants, Intel said last month it will lay off 15 percent of its staff as it pivots toward AI chips.
Trump has frequently criticized the CHIPS Act grants to companies like Intel, claiming that tariffs are a more effective way to pressure companies to shift production to the United States. On Wednesday, Trump announced a 100 percent tariff on all computer chips imported to the United States, except for companies that commit to "building” on US soil.
The administration has sought to renegotiate the previous administration’s grants to chip companies that they described as "overly generous,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified on Capitol Hill in June.
