It appears that President Trump no longer believes that Intel’s CEO should step down. Trump did it revealed At the Truth Social, he met with Lip-Bu Tan, Howard Lutnick, the Secretary of Commerce, and Scott Bessent, the Secretary of the Treasury. He did not discuss the details of their meeting, but described it as “very interesting”. Trump added: “His success and rise is an incredible story.” As you may recall, Trump said that Tan was “deeply conflicted” over his investments in hundreds of Chinese companies and that he should resign. Reuters They had previously reported that some of these companies had links to the Chinese military. “Mr. Tan and members of my Cabinet will spend time together next week and make suggestions to me,” Trump said in his message.
According to a report from Financial timesTan wrote a letter to Intel employees about the matter, telling them that there was a lot of misinformation about the roles he played. “I wanted to be clear… I have always maintained the highest legal and ethical standards,” he allegedly wrote in the letter. He also said Intel is communicating with the White House “to address the issues and make sure we have the facts.”
Trump’s call for Tan’s resignation reportedly stemmed from a letter from Tom Cotton, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to Intel’s CEO. Cotton reportedly expressed concerns about the “security and integrity of Intel’s operations” because of Tan’s ties to China. Tan was appointed CEO of Intel in March, taking over a company that was losing money as its foundry business failed to attract major customers and lagged behind rivals such as Taiwan Semiconductor. Since taking office, Tan has implemented several cost savings, i.a Reduction of jobs with the goal of reducing its workforce by 22% before the end of the year. He also recently told investors that Intel could abandon development of its next-generation manufacturing technology if it fails to find a major customer.