Republican Sen. Tom Cotton questions how much Intel’s board knew about Lip-Bu Tan’s tenure at Cadence Design Systems, which recently pleaded guilty to illegally exporting tech to China.
Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, is facing scrutiny from a US senator over his ties to China.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) this week sent a letter to the chairman of Intel’s board, Frank Yeary, to express his concern about Tan’s past investments and links to semiconductor firms in China.
Cotton cites a Reuters report from April that found Tan had invested in over 100 Chinese tech firms, including at least eight with links to China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army. The same report also says Tan controlled over 40 Chinese companies, but he may have divested from them after joining Intel as CEO in March.
The other issue is how Tan was previously CEO of Cadence Design Systems, a San Jose-based provider of software to design and test semiconductor chips. Last month, Cadence pleaded guilty to illegally exporting sensitive design automation technology to a Chinese military university, along with a semiconductor vendor in China called Phytium Technology.
