Trump U-turns on Intel CEO once again following White House visit – what next for Lip-Bu Tan?

• President Trump has apparently positive meeting with Intel CEO Lip Bu-Tan
• The President had previously called for Tan’s resignation
• A former Intel leader has suggested customers invest cash into the company

Embattled Intel CEO Lip Bu-Tan has paid a visit to the White House for a meeting with President Trump which the latter has described as ‘very interesting’.

This comes just days after the President demanded Tan resign from his position of CEO at Intel, calling him ‘highly conflicted’ – going as far as to say there is ‘no other solution to this problem’.

However following the meeting, Trump praised Tan for his success and ‘amazing’ rise to the top, using his social media site Truth Social to confirm cabinet members will now also meet with Tan to continue discussions.

Strong leadership

The details of the meeting haven’t been released, but Intel did release a statement thanking the President for a ‘candid and constructive discussion on Intel’s commitment to strengthening U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership’.

“We appreciate the President’s strong leadership to advance these critical priorities and look forward to working closely with him and his Administration as we restore this great American company” the statement confirmed.

The meeting followed a letter written to the Intel board of directors from Republican Senator Tom Cotton, in which he raises concerns over Tan’s alleged ties to China through his role as CEO of Cadance Design Systems, a firm which recently plead guilty to illegally selling export-controlled tech to organisations with connections to the Chinese military.

The recent turbulence between Intel and the US Government most likely stems from the President’s ambitions to build a domestic manufacturing industry to rival Chinese tech imports, with Intel perhaps the only US company positioned to take a leading role in semiconductor production.

Intel seems to be moving away from US manufacturing though, with the organisation making significant reductions to its workforce – terminating between 15-20% of its factory workers amongst the 25,000 Intel positions affected by the redundancies.

Former Intel CEO Craig Barett called for a customer-cash injection of around $40 billion to soothe financial difficulties and ensure a semiconductor source within the US, especially given geo-political tensions and the very low likelihood of TSMC or Samsung bringing manufacturing to the states.

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