Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, is dealing with scrutiny from a US senator over his ties to China.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) this week despatched a letter to the chairman of Intel’s board, Frank Yeary, to specific his concern about Tan’s previous investments and hyperlinks to semiconductor corporations in China.
Cotton cites a Reuters report from April that discovered Tan had invested in over 100 Chinese language tech corporations, together with no less than eight with hyperlinks to China’s navy, the Individuals’s Liberation Military. The identical report additionally says Tan managed over 40 Chinese language corporations, however he might have divested from them after becoming a member of Intel as CEO in March.
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The opposite problem is how Tan was beforehand CEO of Cadence Design Techniques, a San Jose-based supplier of software program to design and check semiconductor chips. Final month, Cadence pleaded responsible to illegally exporting delicate design automation know-how to a Chinese language navy college, together with a semiconductor vendor in China referred to as Phytium Expertise.
The unlawful gross sales occurred from 2015 to 2021 when Tan was CEO of the corporate. “Mr. Tan’s associations elevate questions on Intel’s means to meet these obligations,” Cotton wrote, noting Intel obtained $8 billion in federal subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act.
Consequently, the senator has requested Intel’s chairman about whether or not the corporate’s board knew Cadence was underneath investigation for illegally exporting know-how to China when it employed Tan as CEO. Cotton additionally desires to know if Tan has disclosed every other ties to Chinese language corporations.
“Did the Board require Mr. Tan to divest from his positions in semiconductor corporations linked to the Chinese language Communist Get together or the Individuals’s Liberation Military and every other regarding entities in China that would pose a battle of curiosity for Intel’s CEO?” one other query asks.
China and the US are racing to guide in AI and semiconductor manufacturing. In response to Cotton’s letter, Intel tells PCMag that each Tan and the corporate “are deeply dedicated to the nationwide safety of the US and the integrity of our position within the US protection ecosystem.
“We recognize Senator Cotton’s give attention to these shared priorities. We look ahead to addressing these issues with the Senator,” the assertion added.
Within the meantime, Tan is making an attempt to engineer a turnaround at Intel, which has struggled to command gross sales and prospects. As an alternative, rivals similar to AMD, Apple, and Nvidia have been tapping Taiwan’s TSMC to construct cutting-edge chips for each PCs and AI improvement.
Intel has been betting on its 18A manufacturing course of to assist drive gross sales. However the know-how has but to safe main third-party prospects. A separate report from Reuters additionally alleges the 18A course of suffers from low yields, undermining Intel’s path to make the manufacturing course of worthwhile and the ensuing chips available.
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About Michael Kan
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