Donald Trump calls for the "immediate" resignation of Intel CEO

US President Donald Trump has called for the "immediate" resignation of the new CEO of US semiconductor and processor giant Intel, Lip-Bu Tan, after a Republican senator raised concerns about possible ties to Chinese companies.

"The CEO of Intel [in office since March] faces a serious conflict of interest and must resign immediately. There is no other solution to this problem," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform this Thursday.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to the group's president, Frank Yeary, on Wednesday expressing "concern" about possible links between Lip-Bu and companies that "have ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army."

"Tan controls dozens of Chinese companies and holds stakes in Chinese semiconductor and advanced manufacturing companies," Cotton accused in the letter, specifying that "at least eight of these companies have ties to the Chinese military."

The US senator also noted that the Intel executive's former company, Cadence Design Systems, "pleaded guilty to illegally selling" products "to the Chinese Army University and transferring technology to a Chinese company without a license."

"There has been a lot of misinformation circulating about my former roles at Walden International and Cadence Design Systems. I want to be absolutely clear: in over forty years in the industry, I have established relationships worldwide and (...) I have always conducted my work in compliance with the strictest legal and ethical standards," Lip-Bu Tan defended himself on Thursday in a message to Intel employees released by the company.

"We are working with the [Donald Trump] Administration to address the questions raised and ensure that you have access to the facts," the executive added.

Liu-Bu Tan also assured that he "fully shares the President's commitment to promoting the national and economic security of the United States," emphasizing in the statement his "love" for the United States.

Malaysian-born American Lip-Bu Tan, 65, began his career in the nuclear sector before launching his own investment fund specializing in digital technology, particularly in Asia.

He took over leadership of Intel last March, when it was already clear that the company, once a leader in the sector, had not taken advantage of the shift in artificial intelligence (AI), and was now clearly behind its competitors, such as Nvidia.

Intel ended 2024 with better-than-expected results, but with prospects considered too weak by the market.