- Silicon Valley veteran and the brand new Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has invested lots of of tens of millions of {dollars} into Chinese language firms, Reuters reported. A number of the Chinese language firms Tan backed have hyperlinks to the Chinese language navy. Tan has invested in lots of of Chinese language firms by way of Walden Worldwide and holding firms Seine and Sakaytra.
Intel’s new CEO Lip-Bu Tan invested no less than $200 million into Chinese language companies between 2012 and 2024, together with no less than eight tied to the Folks’s Liberation Military, based on 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 straightforward reality is that Mr. Tan is unqualified to function the pinnacle of any firm competing in opposition to China, not to mention one with precise intelligence and nationwide safety ramifications like Intel and its great legacy connection to all areas of America’s intelligence and the protection ecosystem,” Bastille Ventures associate Andrew King advised Reuters.
Intel didn’t return Fortune’s request for remark. However a spokesperson for Tan advised Reuters that he accomplished a questionnaire that requires disclosure of any potential conflicts of curiosity.
Throughout 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 laptop chips. And Tan is considered one of 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. In truth, Tesla has its largest manufacturing unit in China, which is chargeable for producing half of the corporate’s vehicles globally.
“In fact there could also be some national-security issues right here, however it doesn’t appear to hassle the U.S. that Elon Musk, a key participant within the present administration, has a serious funding in China,” Santa Clara legislation college professor Stephen Diamond advised Fortune.
For his half, Tan made investments by way of 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 Folks’s Liberation Military, based on Reuters.
Tan additionally controls greater than 40 Chinese language firms and funds whereas holding a minority stake in over 600 others. In lots of circumstances, his minority possession comes alongside stakes held by Chinese language authorities entities, eight of that are tied to Beijing’s navy, based on Reuters.
Walden Worldwide, in the meantime, is at present a joint proprietor in 20 funding funds and firms with Chinese language authorities funds or state-owned enterprises, based on Chinese language company information.
Walden has additionally collectively invested in six Chinese language tech corporations alongside Chinese language navy provider China Electronics Company (CEC). Throughout his first administration, Trump signed an government order in 2020 that banned any buying or investing in “Chinese language navy firms,” with CEC on the checklist.
In accordance 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 data of the matter advised Reuters that Tan had divested from his positions in entities from China, however the outlet was unable to verify that declare.
“On this political local weather, (China ties) can be one thing that accountable enterprise management at an organization like Intel would no less than have a severe dialog about how one can try to handle,” Diamond advised Reuters. “It’s clearly politically delicate and the board would definitely need to find out about it.”
The Division of Commerce’s Entity Checklist bans U.S. corporations from exporting delicate applied sciences to Chinese language firms, however doesn’t block funding.
The Pentagon prohibits firms tied to the Chinese language navy from the U.S. navy provide chain. However except 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 those who have ties to the Chinese language navy.
There isn’t any proof that Tan at present invests straight in firms on the U.S. Treasury’s checklist, based on Reuters.
“The one level at which a company governance subject would possibly rise is that if Tan discovered himself on either side of a transaction,” Diamond mentioned, “the place Intel is likely to be negotiating with an organization the place he’s a director or shareholder.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
