Trump meets Intel CEO with US Commerce, Treasury secretaries
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In the roughly six months as Intel CEO, Mr Tan Lip-Bu made major strategic shifts that included divesting assets, laying off employees and redirecting resources.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said he met Intel chief executive Tan Lip-Bu on Aug 11, days after seeking his resignation, praising him and calling the meeting “a very interesting one”.
Shares of the chipmaker rose 3 per cent in extended trading.
Mr Trump last week demanded Mr Tan’s immediate resignation,
Mr Trump said he met Mr Tan, along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
His Cabinet members and Mr Tan were going to bring suggestions to him next week, Mr Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“His success and rise is an amazing story,” the US leader said about Mr Tan.
Mr Tan had invested in hundreds of Chinese companies, some of which were linked to the Chinese military, Reuters reported exclusively in April.
It is not illegal for US citizens to hold stakes in Chinese companies unless they have been added to the US Treasury’s Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, which explicitly bans such investments.
Mr Tan has been tasked to undo years of missteps that left Intel struggling to make inroads in the booming artificial intelligence chip industry dominated by Nvidia, while investment-heavy contract manufacturing ambitions led to heavy losses.
In the roughly six months as Intel CEO, Mr Tan made major strategic shifts that included divesting assets, laying off employees and redirecting resources.
But the demand for Mr Tan’s resignation will only distract him from that task, investors and a former senior employee have told Reuters.
He is now making an effort to reassure Mr Trump that he remains the right person to revive the storied American chipmaker.
Mr Tan met the US President for a candid, constructive discussion on the company’s commitment to strengthening US technology and manufacturing leadership, Intel said in a statement.
The company said it would work closely with the administration to “restore this great American company”.
Mr Trump’s intervention marked a rare instance of a US president publicly calling for a CEO’s ouster and raised questions about his control over corporate affairs.
This was also evident in an agreement calling for Nvidia and AMD to give the US government 15 per cent of revenue from China sales. REUTERS
