Intel CEO of decades of China Chip bets, orchard work

Lip-Bu Tan has invested in the Chinese economic boom for more than three decades and placed the kind of no-brainer bets that enriched venture capitalists and fund managers around the world and around the US. He set up a business firm named Walden International in San Francisco that pumped more than $ 5 billion into more than 600 businesses. More than 100 of the investments were made in China, including transactions with once perceived startups such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.-Vandag China’s biggest chipmaker-where he served a one and a half decade on the board. In recent years, as the tension of the US China increases, Washington Beijing’s access to advanced technology has increasingly limited and a stricter restriction on the ability of US businesses to do business there. And Tan’s attempts to distance himself from Chinese investment accelerated with his appointment at Intel Corp in March when he agreed to fired his interest there, according to a person who is familiar with the arrangement. This did not prevent our lawmakers – and now, Donald Trump – from holding Tan’s previous Chinese commitments against him. The US president called the executive ‘highly conflict’ in a position on social media and urged him to resign. Intel said Tan and the board are “deeply committed to promoting US national and economic security interests.” Late Thursday, Tan said he had the full support of the company’s board and responded to Trump for the first time. “We are working on the administration to address the issues raised and ensure that they have the facts,” he said in a letter to staff posted on Intel’s website. Here’s what we know about Tan’s business trading in China. Walden he started working at a venture capital firm in the 1980s named Walden Ventures, where he helped create a spinoff named Walden International focusing on overseas events. Tan, a Mandarin speaker born in Malaysia, helped the company make investments across East Asia, including China. He printed some of Walden’s funds in the then Immedent Area of Chip Investment. Most venture capitalists moved away from the industry and thought it was impossible to challenge giants like Intel with boot fees. But Tan played that chance. The executive is still chairman of Walden International today. And he is the founding partner at Walden Catalyst Ventures, which focuses on investments in the US, Europe and Israel. He also serves in that role at another venture fund, Celesta Global Capital. Tan and Walden have previously investigated China-related investments. In 2023, the House Select Committee of the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter expressing concern and sought more information about the types of businesses and the amount of investments made there. Smic, headquarters in Shanghai, was founded in 2000 as an early attempt to bring advanced chips to China. Walden International was one of the major investors when the startup raised $ 630 million from a group of business firms in 2003. Tan was a director on Smic’s board until 2018. The Chinese company, whose clients at a time Qualcomm Inc. tried to break into the outsourced chip production business by Taiwan Semonductor Co. turned in 2020. List, referring to ties with the Chinese army. This means that businesses need licenses to provide the Chinese enterprise with technology. The move effectively cut it off from important US sellers. Today it is an important partner for the most important players in the Chinese sector, including Huawei Technologies Co. Cadence Tan, who walks out of the venture world and joined the chip industry full-time when he became the interim head of San Jose, California, in California in 2008. He remained in the role until 2021, when he went to the executive chairman, and was widely credited by restoring the company’s fate. At the end of July of this year, the Justice Department announced a plea agreement that costs over $ 100 million fines. Employees at Cadence’s China unit allegedly hid the name of a customer – the National University of Defense Technology – for internal compliance to keep it on. The organization was blacklisted in the Department of Trade in 2015. The Chinese university was one of a group of supercomputer operators who performed simulations of nuclear explosions there, the DOJ said. Cadence was reduced by 20% of the statutory maximum fine because of its partial cooperation with the investigation, according to the DOJ statement, which did not mention Tan. Still, his connection to the company was quoted by US Senator Tom Cotton this week, who asked Intel, Frank Yeary chairman, or what at Cadence Under Tan’s term of office suited him for his current job. The current status has spent time on the boards of other Chinese businesses, such as Advanced Micro Fabrication Equipment Inc., but according to Bloomberg data, he does not currently serve on a board of any company in that country. Although Walden International has invested in more than 100 Chinese businesses over the years, Pitchbook involvement has been scaled back. Walden International, Walden Catalyst Ventures and Celesta now only have interests in a handful of companies in China, including Hong Kong, according to the website. With the help of Jessica Sui, Debby Wu and Vlad Savov. © 2025 Bloomberg MP This article was generated from an automatic news agency feed without edits to text.