Trump shouted at his subjects on his Truth Social site:“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign. There is no other solution to this problem.”

Trump didn’t bother providing any evidence to back his assertion, although it came just after Republican Senator Tom Cotton fired off a letter to Chipzilla’s board chair whinging about Tan’s ties to China and questioning the “security and integrity” of the outfit’s operations.

Tan, who was installed as Chipzilla’s chief in March after the board unceremoniously knifed Pat [kicking] Gelsinger in December, has spent years pouring cash into Chinese tech outfits via his San Francisco-based VC firm. He’s also been linked to Hong Kong-based companies, including a punt on Semiconductor Manufacturing International, China’s biggest chipmaker.

Before Chipzilla handed him the keys to the executive drinks cabinet, Tan was boss of Cadence Design Systems, which last week admitted flogging chip design tools to a Chinese university with military links in breach of US export laws.

Neither Chipzilla nor the White House fancied responding to Trump’s latest tantrum. The cocaine nose jobs of Wall Street took notice, though, sending Intel shares down three per cent in pre-market trading.

Chipzilla is still the only US-based outfit capable of making cutting-edge chips, although it’s spectacularly missed the AI gravy train. It has collected billions in subsidies and loans from Washington, supposedly to help it claw back manufacturing share from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.