Trump demands 'conflicted' Intel CEO's resignation over China links

President Donald Trump called on the chief executive officer of Intel Corp. to resign because of what he called conflicts of interest.

“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday.  “There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!” 

This week, Republican Senator Tom Cotton asked the chairman of Intel’s board to answer questions about Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu 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 Frank Yeary, who oversees the chipmaker’s board of directors, Cotton asked about investments Tan made in China before he was picked to run Intel. Cotton noted specific concerns about 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 Defense Technology. 

“Intel and Tan are deeply committed to the national security of the United States and the integrity of our role in the U.S. defense ecosystem,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Intel said it would address the matters in the letter with the senator. 

Intel shares fell 3.4 per cent in premarket trading before markets opened in New York.