Four former Intel board members are backing President Donald Trump’s surprise attack on the company’s CEO, but they’re pushing for a shake-up that is both more dramatic and wholly in line with their vocal criticism of late.
In a rare collective statement provided exclusively to Fortune, the former directors said the fate of CEO Lip-Bu Tan should be decided by Intel shareholders, but called for a radical restructuring that would spin off Intel’s manufacturing arm into an independent company to secure America’s chipmaking dominance.
Noting that this matter should rightly be decided by Intel’s current board and its shareholders, the group— Charlene Barshefsky, Reed Hundt, James Plummer, and David Yoffie,—pointed out that the company is on its fourth CEO in seven years with little improvement in results. They argued that only a dramatic break could restore Intel’s competitiveness, and they argued for special treatment for Intel’s “Foundry” business, the manufacturing assets from which Intel produces semiconductor chips for its own products and for third-party customers. These advanced chip fabrication facilities are increasingly top of mind for President Donald Trump, his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, and the entire tech industry watching as the drama unfolds.
Intel was long the leader in chips but has fallen behind Nvidia, TSMC and other players in recent years, as Barshefsky, Hundt, Plummer, and Yoffie argued in the pages of Fortune. Intel has two main businesses, one being the Foundry and the other being called simply Intel Products, which includes its flagship PC and server microprocessors, as well as networking equipment and software. Both are essential for computing, but only the Foundry is key to national security, which has been a key point in trade talks between Trump and Xi. The former directors group argued that splitting the chips manufacturing entity from the rest of Intel would directly address both market competitiveness and the nation’s strategic need for advanced semiconductors.
To make the new manufacturing company competitive with TSMC, the former directors called for remaining funds under the CHIPS Act to go towards acquiring Intel’s manufacturing assets and creating a new, independent manufacturing entity, as that would “persuade American design firms to place orders.” That would position the new company to be able to to provide an alternative to TSMC, “both for cutting edge chips needed for data center and other commercial purposes and for national security requirements.”
Mounting pressure
The statement comes as pressure on Intel intensifies, after President Donald Trump publicly called for CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s resignation over his “conflicted” status and alleged ties to Chinese technology firms. Trump’s demand, posted on Truth Social Thursday morning, sent shockwaves through U.S. tech circles and drew swift responses from the company.
Tan responded in a letter to staff, posted publicly on Intel’s website, claiming there has been “misinformation” about his career and his past leadership roles. The embattled CEO said that Intel is “engaging” with the Trump White House to “address the matters that have been raised and ensure they have the facts.” He added that he fully shares the president’s commitment to advancing U.S. national and economic security.
President Trump’s intervention followed Senator Tom Cotton’s warnings over reports of Tan’s prior investments in Chinese firms, some allegedly tied to China’s military. Trump’s demand for an immediate CEO change provoked a 3% drop in Intel’s stock Thursday, compounding board-level discord and market concerns about the company’s stagnation and loss of ground to rivals such as Nvidia and AMD.
In his note to staff on Thursday, Tan defended his integrity and claimed the current board was “fully supportive” of the work currently under way at Intel, while insisting that throughout his four decades in the industry, he has “always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards.”
Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a previous statement to Fortune, however, the company pushed back on criticism, saying its board and CEO Lip-Bu Tan are “deeply committed to advancing U.S. national and economic security interests” and were making “significant investments aligned with the President’s America First agenda.”
Intel noted it has been manufacturing in the U.S. for 56 years and is investing billions of dollars in domestic semiconductor R&D and manufacturing, including a new Arizona fab that will run the most advanced process technology in the country. The company added that it was “the only company investing in leading logic process node development in the U.S.” and said it looked forward to “continued engagement with the Administration.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the four former directors called for the ouster of Intel’s CEO. The group of former directors said that Intel shareholders should make the decision about the CEO.
