Will the weight of Intel CEO’s past let him down?

• But the episode had changed the conversation—no longer about Intel’s turnaround or technology roadmap, but about the CEO’s past and where his loyalties lay.
• Decades of global investments had brought Tan to the top of the American chip industry. Now, those same investments were threatening to pull him down.

Intel’s gleaming headquarters in Santa Clara had been humming with quiet optimism in early 2025. Lip-Bu Tan, the company’s new CEO, was brought in as a seasoned dealmaker with a knack for spotting the future before it arrived.

For decades, he’d built a name—and a fortune—through Walden International, placing bold bets on emerging tech companies around the globe.

Intel’s CEO since March 2025, co-founded and leads Walden International, a venture firm that has poured over $200 million into hundreds of Chinese tech and semiconductor companies—some with alleged ties to the Chinese military. He invested early in SMIC, China’s largest chipmaker, and served on its board from 2001 to 2018.

Others, critics claim, brushed too close to firms with links to the People’s Liberation Army. Tan had even sat on SMIC’s board for nearly two decades. In Silicon Valley, this was seen as the résumé of a man with deep global reach. In Washington, it was starting to look like a liability.

The tension broke on August 7, 2025. Former President Donald Trump, never one to whisper, took to the airwaves and social media: Lip-Bu Tan, he declared, was “highly conflicted” and should resign immediately.

Ties with China

The market recoiled. Intel’s stock slid more than three per cent in hours. Senator Tom Cotton piled on, urging the company’s board to investigate Tan’s past ventures, some of which, Cotton alleged, had defense implications for China.

Inside Intel, employees watched the storm gather. Tan’s decades-old deals, once seen as savvy global strategy, were being reframed as potential threats to national security.

For Tan, this wasn’t just politics—it was personal. The accusations implied not only questionable judgment, but divided loyalties. Within hours, he pushed back, calling the attacks “misinformation” and reaffirming his commitment to US law, ethics, and Intel’s future. The board publicly stood by him. But the damage was already in motion.

But the episode had changed the conversation—no longer about Intel’s turnaround or technology roadmap, but about the CEO’s past and where his loyalties lay.

Decades of global investments had brought Tan to the top of the American chip industry. Now, those same investments were threatening to pull him down.

The question hanging over Intel’s glass towers wasn’t whether Lip-Bu Tan could run the company. It was whether the weight of his past would let him.