Donald Trump has called on Intel’s new chief executive to resign immediately, saying Lip-Bu Tan is “highly conflicted.”

In a post to his Truth Social platform on Thursday, the former US president said, “The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem.”

The brief post did not elaborate based on Trump’s call for Tan’s resignation. He also made no mention of the specific areas where he believed Intel’s CEO is conflicted.

The timing of the comments was notable given that Trump made the post only three days after Republican Senator Tom Cotton also raised concerns about Tan’s relationship with Chinese companies. In a letter sent on Tuesday to Intel board chair Frank Yeary, Cotton wrote, “I write to you about the appointment of Lip-Bu Tan as Intel’s CEO and my concern about the security and integrity of Intel’s operations.”

Cotton’s letter highlighted Tan’s history as an investor in Chinese companies, particularly in the technology sector, and called on Yeary to address whether Intel was aware of Tan’s business ties to Beijing when it made him CEO. Cotton’s letter suggested Tan’s appointment could damage Intel, which has long been the US’s largest advanced chipmaker.

Intel did not respond to a request for comment on Trump’s comments on Thursday morning. The White House also declined to comment.

Intel stock fell 3 percent in pre-market trading in New York on Thursday morning, following Trump’s post.

Tan, a Silicon Valley veteran who has built a global semiconductor and venture capital empire, was appointed Intel CEO in March after the company’s board ousted his predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, last December.

In addition to his role at Intel, Tan’s venture firm in San Francisco and another headquartered in Hong Kong have pumped millions of dollars into Chinese technology companies over the years. Notably, he was an early investor in Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), China’s largest chipmaker.

Tan’s history has been subject to greater scrutiny recently in the wake of a similar case at Cadence Design Systems, a California-based chip design software company that Tan previously served as chief executive. Cadence acknowledged last week that it had violated US export controls by selling chip design software to the Chinese university Fudan University, which has links to the Chinese military.

Tan stepped down as Cadence CEO in 2016 after serving in the role for a decade, but the controversy surrounding Cadence has amplified some of the issues with Tan’s history that Senator Cotton and others have highlighted, such as his close ties to the Chinese tech sector and his current and former leadership positions at multiple tech companies.

Intel is one of the most important players in the battle to take control of the global chip supply chain, but also one of the few based in the United States that is still able to produce advanced semiconductors.

To that end, Intel has already been the recipient of billions of dollars in government subsidies and low-cost loans designed to help it close the gap with rival chipmakers in Taiwan and South Korea. But with Intel far behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) when it comes to next-generation chips, the competition to lead that segment of the market has become even fiercer.

This comes as artificial intelligence chips are starting to dominate the chip industry. Beijing has also been spending heavily on state-backed investments in semiconductors, and the Biden administration has made it a priority to limit the flow of US technology to China.

Intel has asked for billions more from the government, and even if it receives that funding, the reality is the company will likely remain far behind in advanced chipmaking unless it can develop a “significant external customer,” according to Tan himself in July. He said if Intel could not find a customer to fund the company’s development of its next-generation chipmaking technology, the company may have no choice but to abandon the effort.