President Donald Trump has called for the resignation of Intel’s new chief executive, Lip-Bu Tan, who he says is “highly conflicted.”

“THE CEO OF INTEL IS HIGHLY CONFLICTED and must resign immediately. There is no other solution to this problem,” Trump said in a Thursday post on the Truth Social network.

The post was strikingly terse, providing no detail on what Trump means by “conflicted.” It also comes just days after Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, sent a letter to the chairman of Intel’s board, Frank Yeary, that raised questions about Intel’s “security and integrity” due to Tan’s business interests in China.

Cotton, in his letter sent on Tuesday, specifically noted Tan’s history as a prolific investor in Chinese technology companies. Tan’s record “raises questions about his ability to lead America’s preeminent advanced chipmaker without endangering national security,” Cotton wrote.

Tan is a well-known and long-respected veteran of the Silicon Valley semiconductor and venture capital scenes. Over several decades, Tan, a Singaporean national, has established companies around the world. In San Francisco, his venture capital firm has led many Chinese technology companies, as it has a parallel operation in Hong Kong.

He was an early investor in Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest chipmaker. Tan also spent years running another venture-backed semiconductor software firm, Cadence Design Systems, which is based in California and specializes in chip design.

Cadence admitted late last week that it had violated U.S. export controls by selling its chip design software to a Chinese university that has close ties to the Chinese military. The controversy over Cadence and Tan’s network of past Chinese investments has raised uncomfortable questions about Tan’s new role at Intel, one of the most important American chipmakers, as the United States and China compete for global technological dominance.

Intel and the White House declined to comment on Trump’s post. Intel’s stock price in New York declined by about 3 percent in pre-market trading on Thursday morning after Trump’s post. Tan assumed the CEO position in March after Intel’s board of directors voted to remove his predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, last December. Gelsinger had previously left Intel to take a top job at cloud software company Microsoft but returned to lead Intel in 2021.

Tan now faces the difficult task of leading Intel at a pivotal moment for the Silicon Valley company, which has been struggling to keep up with its main rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chipmaker. TSMC, based in Taiwan, has outstripped Intel in manufacturing cutting-edge semiconductors for years.

Intel’s situation is especially fraught because it is the only U.S.-headquartered company with the capacity to make the most advanced chips. As a result, Intel has largely missed out on the boom in artificial intelligence chip manufacturing, which is now the primary battleground in the global chip race.

Intel has been awarded billions of dollars in government subsidies and loans to boost its competitiveness. The federal assistance is part of Washington’s broader effort to incentivize U.S. semiconductor production and wean the country off its dependence on overseas chipmakers, many of which are based in Taiwan or South Korea. Tan, though, is being pushed to perform right away, given Intel’s already substantial lag in leading-edge manufacturing.

Tan made his own warning in July: Intel’s next-generation semiconductor manufacturing technology needs a “significant external customer” to not shut down, Tan said. If Intel abandons this technology, TSMC will have a monopoly over the world’s most advanced chipmaking, which would have serious implications for the U.S. semiconductor industry and national security.

Tan’s efforts to turn Intel’s fortunes around have also included an aggressive cost-cutting effort to restore profitability, which has reassured some investors but added to fears about the company’s long-term trajectory.

In his letter to Yeary, Senator Cotton wrote that as a recipient of taxpayer-funded government subsidies, Intel must demonstrate “the highest levels of security compliance and corporate governance.” “Intel is required to be a responsible steward of American taxpayer dollars and to comply with applicable security regulations,” Cotton wrote. “Mr Tan’s associations raise questions about Intel’s ability to fulfill these obligations.”