After Trump attacked Intel CEO Liu-Bu Tan and demanded his resignation, this Silicon Valley veteran quickly turned enemies into friends in a 40-minute meeting, even winning significant government investment.

Facing the self-proclaimed "master of deals" president, how did Liu-Bu Tan take the initiative by giving up subsidies and transferring equity? As more insider details emerge, the peak strategy to save Intel is revealed.

Before taking over Intel, Liu-Bu Tan was an active investor with substantial investments in China. Image source: Andrej Sokolow/dpa/picture alliance

A Thursday before dawn in Silicon Valley. Liu-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel, suddenly found himself at the center of the president's public attack.

"The CEO of Intel has serious conflicts of interest and must resign immediately," President Trump wrote on the social platform Truth Social at 4:39 AM Pacific Time on August 7. Before taking over Intel, Liu-Bu Tan had been an active investor with substantial investments in China.

At that time, Trump and Liu-Bu Tan had never met. Although tech giants such as Nvidia, AMD, OpenAI, Amazon, Google, and Palantir had recently visited Trump, the head of the U.S.'s most senior chip manufacturer had not yet had any contact with the president since joining Intel in March this year.

For the 66-year-old Liu-Bu Tan, politics had never been a priority on his agenda. Over the past 20 years, he had never donated to any presidential campaign. Although he had occasional contacts with a few political figures, such as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, his distance from Washington politics was evident: after the previous policy chief - a Democrat - left, Liu-Bu Tan left the key position of government relations vacant for several months without filling it.

White House 40 Minutes: The Art of Turning the Tide

According to insiders, after Trump's attack, Intel acted quickly to secure a meeting with the president. Ultimately, both sides held a closed-door meeting in the White House presidential office that lasted 40 minutes, which became the most decisive moment in Liu-Bu Tan's decades-long career.

Previously undisclosed details show that this transaction master, who had been accused by Trump of supporting Chinese interests, eventually left the White House with a commitment of significant government investment. The U.S. government decided to invest billions of dollars in exchange for nearly 10% of Intel's shares.

This deal gave Intel a strategic halo of "too big to fail" and opened the door for potential partners hoping to win the president's favor. It also marked a new era in American industrial policy: the executive branch began directly investing in private companies deemed strategically important.

Since Liu-Bu Tan took over, Intel's stock has rebounded by about 80%, outperforming the S&P 500 index and Nvidia during the same period.

The Struggle Between Trading Skills and Technical Shortcomings

Reuters interviewed about 20 current and former Intel employees, government advisors, and industry contacts. While Liu-Bu Tan's trading skills were successful in the White House, some people still doubted his technical insight. They were concerned that even if as a "transaction master" he could win space for the company, whether Liu-Bu Tan really had the ability to restore Intel's leading position in chip manufacturing and develop a strategy to surpass its competitors in AI.

Intel chips once powered the first mass-produced personal computers, but years of dysfunction allowed overseas competitors like TSMC to surpass them in advanced chip production.

An Intel spokesperson said that Liu-Bu Tan had actively communicated with the Trump administration and had elevated government affairs functions to report directly to him within the company. In December, Intel also announced that an economic advisor to Trump would take charge of the department.

A White House spokesperson said that President Trump is using executive power to "get the best terms for American taxpayers" and defend national security, calling this one of many measures to bring key manufacturing back to the United States.

Equity for Funds: Can Intel Become Great Again?

To prepare for the White House meeting, Liu-Bu Tan sought full support from allies, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. He also worked with advisors to try to prove his patriotism by sharing his personal story and preparing a positive explanation of his holdings in China.

According to Reuters, Liu-Bu Tan made about 600 investments in China. According to Celesta Capital, Liu-Bu Tan's investment company stated that its involvement in this area was minimal and called Liu-Bu Tan's transactional ability the most needed quality for Intel to get out of its困境.

Only Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accompanied Liu-Bu Tan in the White House meeting. When Trump asked how to reverse the company's decline, Liu-Bu Tan clearly stated that he did not want unfunded grants under the CHIPS Act, which interested the president.

Then, when Trump proposed that the government gain equity in exchange for financial support, Liu-Bu Tan readily accepted. This deal injected $5.7 billion into Intel, making the U.S. government its largest shareholder. Subsequently, Lutnick posted a video on social media, captioned it as "The Art of Deals: Intel Edition," and Liu-Bu Tan also appeared in the video, saying that he wanted to "make Intel great again."

Can the Lifeline Be Turned Into Long-Term Success?

For Intel, the government's investment is undoubtedly a "lifeline." Subsequently, Intel also secured a $5 billion investment from Nvidia and a $2 billion investment from SoftBank, which is under Masayoshi Son's leadership.

However, political benefits cannot directly translate into technological breakthroughs. In core business manufacturing, Intel still faces difficult challenges. According to insiders, Nvidia recently tested Intel's "18A" production process, but after evaluation, decided not to continue.

An Intel spokesperson insisted that the 18A process is progressing well, and the next-generation 14A process continues to attract strong market interest. In fact, when Nvidia invested in September, it did not promise to have its chips manufactured by Intel. Liu-Bu Tan told the media at the time that the current focus was more on "collaboration."

Liu-Bu Tan, through precise political hedging, won valuable cash flow and survival time for Intel in a very short time. But beyond the political noise, whether this former chip giant can reclaim its peak in manufacturing technology still depends on its real skills in laboratories and semiconductor factories.

Source: DW

Original: toutiao.com/article/7587564874318758454/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author.