Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has written a letter to the company's employees after the U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to step down, pointing to alleged conflicts of interest linked to his past financial involvement with Chinese chipmakers, reports DigiTimes. In the letter, he reassured the Intel staff that he has always operated 'within the highest legal and ethical' principles and that the company is working with the U.S. gov't to address the 'misinformation' matters.
According to corporate filings transpired earlier this year, Lip-Bu Tan controls more than 40 companies in China and holds minority stakes in over 600 others through investment firms he owns or manages, with a total value of at least $200 million. Some of these businesses supply or contract with the People’s Liberation Army, and in many cases his stakes are co-held with Chinese state-owned enterprises or regional government-backed funds. While questions over Tan's background were already present when he became chief executive in March 2025, earlier this week Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel's board warning about national security risks that stem from Tan's investments while being the head of Walden International, the venture capital firm he founded in 1987 and still chairs, as well as two Hong Kong-registered entities — Sakarya Limited, which he owns outright, and Seine Limited, which is controlled by Walden.
