Intel Share Price Drops 3% After Trump Demands CEO Lip-Bu Tan's Resignation Over China Ties

Intel Share Price: Shares of Intel dropped over 3% soon after trading began in the US stock market on Thursday, Aug. 7 after US President Donald Trump demanded the immediate resignation of new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, calling him "highly conflicted" due to his ties with Chinese firms.

Trump raised doubts about the CEO's plans to turn around the struggling American chip icon. “The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!”

Trump posted after Republican Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary expressing concern over CEO Lip-Bu Tan's latest investments and ties to semiconductor companies that are reportedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the People's Liberation Army.

Cotton asked the board whether Tan had divested his interests in these companies to eliminate any conflicts of interest. Cotton specifically called out Tan's previous leadership of Cadence Design Systems in the letter. The tech company admitted in July to selling its products to China's National University of Defence Technology in violation of US export controls.

Intel had been a beneficiary of the Democrat Joe Biden administration's CHIPS Act, receiving more than $8 billion in federal funding to build computer chip plants around the country. A leadership change could pile pressure on Intel, which is a pillar of US efforts to boost domestic chipmaking.

On Thursday, Intel shares fell 3.4% in premarket session before trading opened in New York. Shares last traded 3.26% lower to $19.74. The stock has tumbled over 10% on the tech-heavy index Nasdaq in the last one month.

Intel shares have been nearly flat in 2025, after dropping more than 60% last year. The company's market value has fallen below $100 billion at a time when Nvidia has become the first $4 trillion company. Intel's profit margins - once the envy of the industry - are at about half their historical highs.

Once the bedrock of Silicon Valley's global dominance in chips, Intel has lost its manufacturing edge to Taiwanese rival TSMC. According to Reuters, it has virtually no presence in artificial intelligence (AI) chips-space dominated by Nvidia and has been losing market share in data centers and personal computer - which has long been its stronghold - to rival AMD.