Taipei: Lip-Bu Tan, who became Intel Corp.’s chief executive officer in March, will visit Taiwan and meet with Taiwanese suppliers in mid-May in conjunction with the opening of Computex Taipei 2025, according to supply chain sources. The sources said Monday that the visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post, will be aimed at strengthening Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help the struggling American chipmaker make a turnaround.
According to Focus Taiwan, Tan will hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views on the global semiconductor industry’s outlook. The sources indicated, however, that Tan will not deliver a speech at Computex. During his stay, Tan will also visit Intel suppliers in Taiwan, though his itinerary has yet to be finalized.
Intel has described Tan as a longtime technology investor and widely respected executive with more than 20 years of semiconductor and software experience as well as deep ties across the American company’s ecosystem. In Intel’s latest annual report released on March 27, Tan said his company will no doubt strengthen its position in the cloud-based artificial intelligence data center market and develop competitive “rack-scale system solutions” as a key priority.
Tan also pledged to focus on creating advanced process technologies to build a world-class wafer foundry business. How Intel will update and modernize its production facilities remains an issue, however. There have been rumors that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) will form a joint venture with Intel and others to run the American chipmaker’s wafer foundry operations, but TSMC Chairman C.C. Wei denied the rumors at an investor conference last week.
International news media have reported that TSMC, under pressure from the Trump administration’s tariffs, will take a stake in the new company to rescue Intel’s wafer foundry operations. That has raised concerns over possible leaks of business secrets from TSMC.
