- Silicon Valley veteran and the brand new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has invested lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} into Chinese language firms, Reuters reported. Among the Chinese language firms Tan backed have hyperlinks to the Chinese language army. Tan has invested in lots of of Chinese language firms via Walden Worldwide and holding firms Seine and Sakaytra.
Intel’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan invested at the least $200 million into Chinese language companies between 2012 and 2024, together with at the least eight tied to the Individuals’s Liberation Military, in response to a Reuters report.
Tan leads an organization that has a $3 billion contract with the Division of Protection to fabricate chips, together with two different DoD contracts. His earlier investments have raised issues amid souring U.S.-China relations.
“The simple fact is that Mr. Tan is unqualified to serve as the head of any company competing against China, let alone one with actual intelligence and national security ramifications like Intel and its tremendous legacy connection to all areas of America’s intelligence and the defense ecosystem,” Bastille Ventures associate Andrew King instructed Reuters.
Intel didn’t return Fortune’s request for remark. However a spokesperson for Tan instructed Reuters that he accomplished a questionnaire that requires disclosure of any potential conflicts of curiosity.
Through the first few months of the Trump administration, President Donald Trump and Chinese language President Xi Jinping have exchanged jabs within the type of tariffs: U.S. tariffs on China now stand at 145%, whereas China’s tariffs on the U.S. are at present 125%.
Intel is the one U.S.-based producer of probably the most superior pc chips. And Tan is one among Silicon Valley’s most tenured traders in Chinese language tech.
He was additionally thought of a Goldilocks decide to revive the corporate, and initially cheered by traders when he was named as Intel’s new CEO.
Whereas having Intel helmed by somebody investing in Chinese language firms would possibly ring alarm bells for some, Elon Musk has his fingers in each tech and the federal government as Tesla CEO and an adviser to President Donald Trump. Actually, Tesla has its largest manufacturing facility in China, which is answerable for producing half of the corporate’s automobiles globally.
“Of course there may be some national-security concerns here, but it does not seem to bother the U.S. that Elon Musk, a key player in the current administration, has a major investment in China,” Santa Clara legislation college professor Stephen Diamond instructed Fortune.
For his half, Tan made investments via Walden Worldwide, a San Francisco-based venture-capital agency he based within the Nineteen Eighties, together with Sakarya Restricted and Seine Restricted, two holdings firms in Hong Kong.
Between March 2012 and December 2024, Tan injected at $200 million into lots of of Chinese language superior manufacturing and chips firms, a few of which had been contractors and suppliers for the Individuals’s Liberation Military, in response to Reuters.
Tan additionally controls greater than 40 Chinese language firms and funds whereas holding a minority stake in over 600 others. In lots of instances, his minority possession comes alongside stakes held by Chinese language authorities entities, eight of that are tied to Beijing’s army, in response to Reuters.
Walden Worldwide, in the meantime, is at present a joint proprietor in 20 funding funds and corporations with Chinese language authorities funds or state-owned enterprises, in response to Chinese language company information.
Walden has additionally collectively invested in six Chinese language tech companies alongside Chinese language army provider China Electronics Company (CEC). Throughout his first administration, Trump signed an govt order in 2020 that banned any buying or investing in “Chinese military companies,” with CEC on the record.
In keeping with one other Reuters report, Walden and CEC have a joint 2% stake in surveillance firm Intellifusion, which is listed on the U.S. Division of Commerce commerce blacklist in 2020 for alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Walden Worldwide didn’t reply to Fortune’s request for remark. An unnamed supply with information of the matter instructed Reuters that Tan had divested from his positions in entities from China, however the outlet was unable to substantiate that declare.
“In this political climate, (China ties) would be something that responsible business leadership at a company like Intel would at least have a serious conversation about how to try and manage,” Diamond instructed Reuters. “It’s obviously politically sensitive and the board would certainly want to know about it.”
The Division of Commerce’s Entity Checklist bans U.S. companies from exporting delicate applied sciences to Chinese language firms, however doesn’t block funding.
The Pentagon prohibits firms tied to the Chinese language army from the U.S. army provide chain. However until an organization is added to the U.S. Treasury’s Chinese language Navy-Industrial Complicated Corporations Checklist, it’s authorized for U.S. residents to carry stakes in Chinese language firms, even people who have ties to the Chinese language army.
There is no such thing as a proof that Tan at present invests instantly in firms on the U.S. Treasury’s record, in response to Reuters.
“The only point at which a corporate governance issue might rise is if Tan found himself on both sides of a transaction,” Diamond mentioned, “where Intel might be negotiating with a company where he is a director or shareholder.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
