Last week, President Trump called for the dismissal of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan over “highly CONFLICTED” ties to China, further escalating an already difficult situation for the executive.
Today, following a meeting, Trump appeared to soften his stance, even if partially.
A quick recap
Before joining Intel, Tan worked as CEO for Cadence Design Systems, a firm that just pleaded guilty to an investigation by the Justice Department over charges of “selling its chip-design products to a Chinese military university,” per the Wall Street Journal’s description.
To make matters worse, Tan was also the subject of a Reuters investigation, which found that he had “invested in hundreds of Chinese tech firms, including at least eight with links to the People’s Liberation Army”.
Meanwhile, inside Intel, Tan’s relationship with the board had grown increasingly strained, given his sweeping cuts to projects, personnel, and long-term plans since taking over as CEO.
When President Trump called for his dismissal last week, many assumed it would push Intel to a new breaking point. Yet despite internal tensions, the company publicly stood by its CEO.
Tan also sent a letter to employees reaffirming his commitment to the U.S. and Intel and pledged to work with the administration to clear the air. That’s what today’s meeting was about.
Tan appears to have won this round, but the hard part may not be over
As noted by Bloomberg, Trump appears to have come out of the meeting with a much more optimistic view of the executive, according to a post he made on Truth Social:
”I met with Mr. Lip-Bu Tan, of Intel, along with Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent. The meeting was a very interesting one. His success and rise is an amazing story.”
But that doesn’t mean Tan is in the clear:
“Mr. Tan and my Cabinet members are going to spend time together, and bring suggestions to me during the next week. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
This suggests that the administration still hopes to strike some sort of oversight deal with Intel (much like it has also been pursuing with NVIDIA and AMD) to ensure that, regardless of what Tan claims, neither he nor the company ends up favoring China.
While neither Trump nor Intel (who has yet to comment publicly on the meeting) has revisited the subject of Tan’s dismissal, the executive’s biggest challenge to keep his job may still lie ahead, depending on how he navigates the issues that were already piling up before the White House got involved.
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