Malaysian-born Intel chief dogged by decades of China chip business and board work

US President, lawmakers are holding his past Chinese affiliations against him

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For more than three decades, Mr Tan Lip-Bu invested in the Chinese economic boom, placing the kinds of no-brainer bets that enriched venture capitalists and fund managers around the world and across the US.

He set up a venture firm called Walden International based in San Francisco that pumped more than US$5 billion (S$6.4 billion) into over 600 companies.

More than 100 of those investments were made in China, including deals with once-obscure startups such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) – today China's largest chipmaker – where he served on the board for a decade and a half.

In recent years, as US-China tensions escalated, Washington increasingly restricted Beijing's access to advanced technology and placed tighter limits on the ability of US companies to do business there.

And Mr Tan's efforts to distance himself from Chinese investments accelerated with his appointment as chief executive officer of Intel in March, when he agreed to divest his holdings there, according to a person familiar with the arrangement.

That has not stopped US lawmakers—and, now, US President Donald Trump—from holding Mr Tan's past Chinese affiliations against him. Mr Trump called the executive "highly conflicted" in a social media post and urged him to resign.

Intel has responded that Mr Tan and the board are "deeply committed to advancing US national and economic security interests" and said they would further engage with the administration.

Here is what we know about Mr Tan's business dealings in China.