President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded that Intel Corp. Chief Executive Officer Lip-Bu Tan “resign, immediately,” writing on Truth Social that the semiconductor executive is “highly conflicted.” The message knocked Intel shares as much as 5% in U.S. pre-market trading. Trump’s intervention follows a letter sent on Wednesday by Republican Senator Tom Cotton to Intel’s board questioning Tan’s past ties to Chinese technology firms and a recent criminal case involving Cadence Design Systems, the company Tan previously led. Cotton asked whether Tan had divested stakes in Chinese chip makers linked to the People’s Liberation Army and noted that Intel has been awarded nearly $8 billion under the CHIPS and Science Act, a program that carries strict national-security requirements. Tan, who succeeded Pat Gelsinger in March, has been cutting costs and scaling back factory plans as the company tries to regain competitiveness against Nvidia and AMD. Intel did not immediately comment on the president’s call for Tan’s resignation.