Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has traveled to China this week, meeting with government officials in Beijing as the People’s Liberation Army conducts ongoing military drills in the Taiwan Strait.
Gelsinger is in the country to attend his company’s sustainability summit in Beijing, where he emphasized the importance of Intel’s position in China. “Intel’s presence in China is very important, because the country is one of the world’s largest markets, and also one of Intel’s most important markets,” he said, in remarks reported on by Chinese state media outlets. While in China, Gelsinger will meet privately with Intel customers, partners, and Chinese government officials.
In a meeting on Wednesday, Chinese vice president Han Zheng told Gelsinger that Intel should do more to expand in China and therefore stabilize global supply chains.
The executive is not the first prominent U.S. executive to visit China after the zero-Covid policy was lifted last year. Other prominent business figures, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, traveled to Beijing for the annual China Development Forum last month.
However, the timing of Gelsinger’s visit is especially noteworthy because the PLA is currently performing exercises framed as a response to Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen’s recent visit to the U.S. Although the PLA says that it wrapped up a three-day exercise on Sunday, involving the simulation of air strikes against Taiwan, drills have continued.
Gelsinger has previously faced criticism for his decision to apologize for singling out forced labor in Xinjiang, after specifically referring to the region in a 2021 statement then backtracking after facing criticism in China.
Under questioning from Senator Rick Scott in March 2022, Gelsinger defended Intel’s operations in China: “If we’re here to be the largest provider of semiconductors in the world, we must be participating in the largest market.” He also said that the possibility of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is concerning and that it motivates his efforts to further build out the semiconductor industry in the U.S. “It is time for us to get back onto American soil,” he said.
Gelsinger’s travels this week could become a focus of Congressional scrutiny. The chairman of the new House select committee on the CCP, Mike Gallagher, has previously expressed concern about Intel’s China ties. In 2021, he condemned Intel’s decision to add a Chinese Communist Party-connected executive to its government advisory board.