Donald Trump has called for the immediate resignation of Intel’s new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, over apparent “conflicts of interest.”

The former president, who has made intellectual property and technology one of his core political issues, took to his Truth Social platform Thursday with a message for Tan: “The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem.”

The statement, which was not accompanied by an explanation of Tan’s specific conflicts of interest, comes on the heels of a similar message from Republican Senator Tom Cotton. Earlier in the week, Cotton had penned a letter to Intel board chair Frank Yeary in which he expressed “concern about the security and integrity of Intel’s operations,” due to Tan’s deep financial and professional ties to China.

Intel, whose new CEO has reportedly had business relations with Chinese companies for more than 20 years, is the United States’ only domestic producer of advanced semiconductor chips. Tan, a Silicon Valley veteran with close ties to Asian technology companies, is a major investor in Chinese tech firms. His personal investment firm, based in San Francisco, as well as other companies of which he is a founder and is based in Hong Kong, have collectively funneled billions of dollars into Chinese technology start-ups and ventures. In the past, Tan’s investments have included Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), currently the largest chipmaker in China.

Tan also came under greater scrutiny this week after it was revealed that he previously served as the chairman of Cadence Design Systems, a California-based chip design software company. In a regulatory filing last week, Cadence announced that it had violated U.S. export controls for selling its chip design software to a Chinese university with ties to China’s military. Cadence has promised to improve export compliance and end sales to “non-U.S. end users,” but the disclosure raised concerns over Tan’s extensive business relationships with Chinese entities and his track record at Cadence.

Neither Intel nor the White House immediately responded to a request for comment on Trump’s statement. Intel’s shares, however, were down 3 percent in pre-market trading in New York on Thursday morning in the immediate wake of Trump’s post.

Tan became Intel’s CEO in March after the company’s board of directors voted to replace outgoing CEO Pat Gelsinger in December. Gelsinger’s ouster came after a rocky few years for Intel, which has struggled to match the pace of its competitors. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chipmaker, has dramatically outperformed Intel, leading Intel to lose its place in advanced technology for the first time ever.

Tan, who previously served on Intel’s board of directors, had been heralded as an industry stalwart with more than three decades of experience in the semiconductor and venture capital industries. Still, he has had a tough run in the early days as Intel’s new chief executive, inheriting a company in the midst of an industry-wide chip shortage, and he has been unable to compete with TSMC.

Intel, Silicon Valley’s former gold standard, has been left behind in the ongoing boom in artificial intelligence chips, with China leapfrogging ahead of the U.S. to become the global market leader. Intel has been one of the leading beneficiaries of the U.S. government’s subsidies and loan programs to encourage domestic semiconductor manufacturing and reduce American reliance on foreign chipmakers, which have been overwhelmingly focused in Taiwan and South Korea.

Intel’s second-quarter earnings showed signs of improvement, but the company’s future remains up in the air. In July, Tan warned that unless Intel can find a “significant external customer” to purchase the chips made with its next-generation manufacturing technology, the company may be forced to stop development on that tech. A failure to continue that development could give TSMC a near-monopoly on advanced chipmaking, with consequences for not only the chip industry but also U.S. national security.

Tan has also moved quickly to cut Intel’s costs and shore up its profitability, moves which have been welcomed by investors. Those actions, combined with reports of Intel considering a sale of its NAND memory chip business, have also raised concerns about Intel’s future direction.

Senator Cotton’s letter to Intel’s board chair made clear that the semiconductor company’s receipt of taxpayer subsidies means it must operate with the highest levels of security compliance and business integrity. “Intel is required to be a responsible steward of American taxpayer dollars and to comply with applicable security regulations,” Cotton wrote in his letter. “Mr Tan’s associations raise questions about Intel’s ability to fulfill these obligations.”