Calls for the CEO of Intel, Lip-Bu Tan, to resign have been spearheaded by U.S. President Donald Trump. Posting on social media, Trump demanded his resignation due to Lip-Bu’s ties to China. This comes as Intel faces plenty of pressure and reports of mass layoffs. The call has caused a sharp drop in Intel shares.

Intel’s latest CEO has been in the job for less than six months. Lip-Bu Tan was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in March earlier this year, and it’s been a rocky ride so far. Both 2025 and 2024 haven’t been favorable for Intel; the brand is losing a lot of ground to rival AMD, particularly in the desktop CPU market – even AM4 is outselling Intel. On top of that, AMD is closing the gap in the server CPU space.

Intel shares drop after Trump’s call for resignation

In a post on Truth Social, the U.S. President says the CEO of Intel is “highly conflicted,” likely referring to Lip-Bu Tan’s ties and investments to China. This comes just a day after Reuters reported on a U.S. lawmaker, Senator Tom Cotton, questioning the ties in a letter to the company’s board chair. The letter challenges the “integrity of Intel’s operations and its potential impact on U.S. national security”. His ties to Chinese firms and a recent criminal case involving his former firm, Cadence Design, were highlighted.

The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!

U.S. President Donald Trump

Following the post, Intel shares suddenly dropped. They have now made a small recovery and are trending back up.

Lip-Bu Tan came into the role with big plans to restructure Intel, first targeting the culture of the company and calling for a need to “refocus on engineering” to help turn around Intel’s fortunes. Now that the company is in the middle of restructuring and cutting back its workforce, along with other pressures, new leadership right now is far from ideal.

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Jack Goodall

At PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.