Tan, who took over as CEO of Chipzilla last month, has been a big name in Chinese tech investment for decades. But his ties are raising eyebrows among the cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street and US defence types, given Chipzilla's critical work making advanced chips for the Pentagon.
According to a Reuters trawl through Chinese and US filings, Tan controls more than 40 Chinese companies and has minority interests in another 600, many shared with Chinese state-backed funds. At least eight of those firms are tied to the PLA.
Bastille Ventures partner Andrew King said: "The simple fact is that Mr. Tan is unqualified to serve as the head of any company competing against China, let alone one with actual intelligence and national security ramifications like Intel and its tremendous legacy connections to all areas of America’s intelligence and the defense ecosystem."
King said his fund is not involved in Chipzilla.
Still, some see Tan’s China know-how as exactly what’s needed. Bernstein Analyst Stacey Rasgon gave him a glowing endorsement.
"He was at the top of my list and most investor's lists of who they wanted. He's a legend and he's been around forever,” he said.
Tan funneled his cash through Walden International, the San Francisco VC firm he founded, plus two Hong Kong holding firms—Sakarya and Seine Limited. As of 31 October, he was Sakarya’s sole owner and still chairs Walden, which controls Seine, based on Chinese filings updated daily.
Chipzilla declined to comment on Tan's China-linked assets, but a company rep insisted he’d filled out the necessary director forms and any conflicts were being handled per SEC rules. Walden didn’t respond when Rueters hacks came knocking.
A source close to the matter claimed Tan had divested from Chinese entities but wouldn't elaborate. Meanwhile, Reuters noted many of Tan’s links in Chinese databases remain active.
It’s not illegal for Americans to invest in Chinese firms unless they’re blacklisted by the Treasury’s Military-Industrial Complex list. Tan wasn’t found to be holding anything currently sanctioned.
That hasn’t stopped concern. Chipzilla holds a $3 billion contract to supply chips for the US Department of Defence and is involved in two other advanced DoD programmes. The Pentagon declined to comment on Tan’s situation.
Reuters sent its findings through the Chinese Embassy. No comment was given on the PLA links. Still, embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said: “We would like to reiterate our firm opposition to the US generalising the concept of national security... and undermining normal China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation.”
Between 2012 and 2024, Tan invested at least $200 million in Chinese chip firms and advanced manufacturers, including PLA-linked suppliers. Reuters identified 20 ventures where Walden is in bed with Chinese state or municipal funds, in places like Hangzhou and Wuxi.
There’s an overlap with China Electronics Corporation, a sanctioned PLA supplier. CEC didn't reply to requests.
Law professor at Santa Clara Stephen Diamond said: "In this political climate, (China ties) would be something that responsible business leadership at a company like Intel would at least have a serious conversation about how to try and manage."
Tan’s activities weren’t new to Congress either. A February 2024 report from the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party cited Walden’s $161 million investments in PLA-linked firms between 2001 and 2022.
Tan’s early bets in Chinese tech made him a legend. He was a seed investor in Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp—now blacklisted by the US—joining its board in 2001 and leaving in 2018. The House report claims Walden exited in January 2021. SMIC also didn’t comment.
Reuters could confirm the most recent divestment in January 2025, when a Walden fund pulled out of All-Semi, a chip supplier for China’s defence sector. All-Semi also stayed silent.