The hits keep coming for Intel. They can’t catch a break. The board should have never fired Pat Gelsinger. He had the right plan. It was always going to be a painful turnaround and they just had no stomach for it.
There's no alleging. The US Justice Department prosecuted and settled for a plea deal, as is their prerogative. Justice has been served, but our dictator isn't happy.
There is no evidence the CEO was personally responsible, there was a case for that export violation of Cadence Design Systems and the case was closed.
The case details outline pretty well what happened [0], the company supported the investigations and plead guilty to the charges.
The letter from Sen. Tom Cotton [1] is reasonable ("In the interest of transparency and national security, I respectfully request a response to the following questions by August 15, 2025. (..)"),
the Judge/Jury/Executioner approach of the POTUS attacking the entire Intel company is not.
> There is no evidence the CEO was personally responsible
What are you talking about? He was CEO for 12 years coinciding with when this occurred. Of course the CEO is responsible for these types of decisions if simply that he didn't stop it.
from February 2015 to April 2021, Cadence and its indirectly owned and wholly controlled subsidiary in the PRC, Cadence Design Systems Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. (Cadence China), engaged in a conspiracy to commit export control violations in connection with the provision of EDA tools that were subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to NUDT through Central South CAD Center (CSCC), an alias for NUDT, and another associated entity, Phytium Technology Co. Ltd. (Phytium), without seeking or obtaining the requisite licenses from BIS. Specifically, Cadence, Cadence China, and their employees exported, reexported, and transferred in-country U.S.-origin EDA tools to CSCC in the PRC, despite having knowledge that CSCC was an alias for NUDT. As a result, Cadence and Cadence China exported and caused to be exported EDA tools at least 59 times through September 2020
In court documents, Cadence admitted that Cadence China employees installed EDA hardware on NUDT’s Changsha, China, campus and that NUDT personnel downloaded EDA software and IP technology from Cadence’s download portals while Cadence and Cadence China, through its employees, had knowledge that NUDT had been added to the Entity List. On Feb. 18, 2015, the same day that NUDT was added to the Entity List, Cadence’s export control officer emailed Cadence and Cadence China employees that NUDT had been added to the Entity List “meaning that export licenses will be required if sales are made.” Further, in March 2016, a Cadence China employee authored a presentation for a quarterly sales review meeting with her colleagues stating (as translated from Chinese) that as of Feb. 18, 2015, the U.S. Department of Commerce had “embargoed” four national supercomputer centers in the PRC, including NUDT, due to U.S. microprocessor chips being used in the “TianHe” supercomputing systems believed to be used for nuclear explosion simulation. Cadence also admitted that its employees who conducted work at CSCC’s location on NUDT’s campus knew about connections between CSCC and the PRC military.
"He didn't know this was happening" is kindergarten type excuse making. And in any case, if true is evidence of incompetence meaning he should not be permitted to lead a company so critical to US technology and national security concerns given his incompetence could allow that type of thing to happen again.
> "He didn't know this was happening" is kindergarten type excuse making.
Quite a strawman argument as no-one in this thread stated that. The case was closed, so it also doesn't make sense to speculate whether he was personally aware of this or not, e.g. the verdict also describes this:
According to Cadence’s admissions and court documents, employees of Cadence China did not disclose to and/or concealed from other Cadence personnel, including Cadence’s export compliance personnel, that exports to CSCC were in fact intended for delivery to NUDT and/or the PRC military.
Anyway, as said, the letter with questions to Intel is a reasonable reaction, the social media post of the president is not.
> And in any case, if true is evidence of incompetence meaning he should not be permitted to lead a company so critical to US technology and national security concerns given his incompetence could allow that type of thing to happen again.
Accidentally proving my point. If this is such a company "critical to US technology and national security concerns", ESPECIALLY then the president shouldn't make such public statements without a prior due process.
You dismiss the criticism of the "he didn't know" defense, and then proceed to try to prove he didn't know. Lack of institutional control is not a defense for apex personnel.
Further, your assumption that the president isn't privy to additional details is a big one.
I'm not dismissing it, I'm literally stating that it "doesn't make sense to speculate whether he was personally aware of this or not", citing that same document you cited which points in the opposite direction as quotes you shared.
What part of "justice has been served" do you not understand? The Justice Department had every opportunity to impose employment restrictions as part of the plea deal involving Cadence Design Systems. They chose not to. The case is closed. If they wanted more, they should have rejected the plea deal - but they didn’t.
Now, what Donny Dictator is demanding is called double jeopardy - trying to punish someone again for a crime that’s already been adjudicated. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution explicitly protects against that.
Lip-Bu Tan was not personally charged, and even if he had been, the legal system resolved the matter. If you believe in the rule of law, then you must accept its outcomes - even when they don’t align with your political preferences.
It may not be illegal for someone to have close ties with the Chinese, but we should also not let them control one of the most important companies for the US military and industrial advantage over our rivals.
America is supposed to be a nation of laws, not a nation of political purges. If we start punishing people based on vague suspicions or geopolitical anxieties rather than actual legal violations, we’re not defending democracy - we’re imitating the very authoritarian regimes we claim to oppose.
Intel’s CEO isn’t accused of espionage or sabotage. The Justice Department accepted a plea bargain. Case closed. If that’s not good enough for you, maybe your problem isn’t with Intel, it’s with the Constitution.
We don’t preserve our military and industrial advantage by abandoning due process. We preserve it by investing in strategic capabilities - like Intel’s foundry expansion - and by upholding the rule of law even when it’s inconvenient.
If you want to beat authoritarianism, don’t become it.
It's time to re-adjust your expectations of what "sane" means. The world changed, and previously intolerable things are now not just tolerated but encouraged.
You say that but I think everyone on here, myself included, is secretly hoping he does this to Boeing too after what they've done over the past decade.
Inexcusable for the board. How was this not all dealt with before he was hired? Part of the board’s job in a position like this to make sure there are no issues between your ceo selection and major stakeholders.
Incoming shareholder derivative action against board in 3, 2
It's good that we in the USA finally found the source of all truth in Trump. I mean, can you imagine the fooforaw that Biden or Obama would have caused? They definitely would have made wrong decisions in this situation. Markets would have responded poorly, the press would be all over it, congress would react aggressively. But now that we've got Trump, we, and all the oligarchs, can stay calm. Congress doesn't lift a finger, the press is calm.
