Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has hit back after Donald Trump accused him of being “very confrontational” and said he should resign. economic time. “There is a lot of misinformation circulating about my previous positions,” Tan said in a letter to Intel employees. “I wanted to be clear: I have always maintained the highest legal and ethical standards.” Tan said Intel was working with the White House “to address the issues raised and ensure they have the facts.”
Trump’s Truth Social message calling for Tan’s resignation reportedly comes from a letter to Tan from Tom Cotton, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. In it, Cotton raised “concerns about the security and integrity of Intel’s operations,” as well as Tan’s previous work in China. Tan has invested in Chinese technology companies through his venture capital firm, including SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.), China’s largest maker of electronic chips.
In addition, a company that Tan led before he was appointed head of Intel admitted last week that it had violated US export controls by “illegally exporting semiconductor design tools to a secret (Chinese) military university in the People’s Republic of China,” the report said. United States Department of Justice. The company agreed to plead guilty and pay fines totaling more than $140 million.
Tan found himself in a very busy situation at Intel as the company was unable to keep up with competitors like TSMC and acquire customers. Since taking office, he has embarked on a cost-cutting program and said Intel may be forced to abandon its next-generation manufacturing technology — which hasn’t produced much success so far — if it can’t find a major customer. In the same letter, Tan states that Intel’s board of directors “fully supports” this work.
Trump has dealt with companies ranging from Apple to Bank of Americamaking it what one pundit called “the most interventionist White House in my lifetime,” especially for a Republican. “Many on Wall Street feared that previous Democratic administrations would meddle in their affairs.” he said Ari Melber, MSNBC journalist and attorney. “But in this first year of Trump’s second term, he has accomplished far more than any modern administration.”