The U.S. Congress raised national security concerns regarding the Chinese-American CEO of semiconductor corporation Intel.
On the 6th, according to Reuters and others, Senator Tom Cotton (Republican-Arkansas), the chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to the Intel board questioning the actions of CEO Lip-Bu Tan and his connections with Chinese corporations.
In the letter, Senator Cotton asked, "Has the Intel board demanded that CEO Tan withdraw investments from Chinese chip companies related to the military or the Communist Party?"
This follows reports that CEO Tan has invested in hundreds of Chinese corporations through venture firms. It was revealed that he invested at least $200 million (approximately 280 billion won) in China's advanced manufacturing and semiconductor corporations from March 2012 to the end of last year.
Senator Cotton also inquired about Cadence Design, where CEO Tan was previously employed. Cadence Design acknowledged allegations of selling its chip design products to a Chinese military university last week and agreed to pay over $140 million (approximately 194.3 billion won).
Senator Cotton noted, "With federal funding, Intel has an obligation to manage U.S. taxpayers' money responsibly and comply with security regulations," adding, "I question whether Intel has the capacity to fulfill these obligations."
The 65-year-old CEO Tan was born into a Chinese family in Malaysia and grew up in Singapore. He studied physics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and moved to the U.S. in 1978, where he earned a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).