Intel apologizes to China after warning suppliers about Xinjiang region

[midian182]

A hot potato: Intel has apologized to China following a letter to suppliers in which it urged them not to source products or labor from the Xinjiang region. The statement sparked a backlash in the country and led to calls for a boycott of Intel products.

In an annual letter to suppliers dated December 2021, Intel wrote that it "is required to ensure our supply chain does not use any labor or source goods or services from the Xinjiang region" of China, following restrictions put in place by "multiple governments."

The Xinjiang region is home to much of China’s Muslim Uyghur population. Human rights groups have long claimed they are often detained in "re-education" camps and used as forced labor that feeds into the global tech and retail supply chains.

China denies the accusations, referring to the camps as "vocational training centers" designed to combat poverty and religious extremism.

The letter sparked a backlash on the Chinese social media platform Weibo and the country’s state media, with many calling for an Intel boycott. CNN reports that People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper, called the statement "absurd" and warned that Intel is "biting the hand that feeds it."

Wang Junkai, a Chinese pop star who served as a brand ambassador for Intel Core, said he had cut ties with the company because of its statement. "National interests are above all else," he said.

Intel responded to the outcry with a Chinese-language statement on Thursday on its official WeChat and Weibo accounts. "We apologize for the trouble caused to our respected Chinese customers, partners and the public. Intel is committed to becoming a trusted technology partner and accelerating joint development with China," the company said. It added that it respected "the sensitivity of the issue in China."

It seems not everyone in China is convinced by Chipzilla’s response. "Is Intel's apology sincere?" was trending on Weibo earlier today.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that "claims related to Xinjiang, such as forced labor," are "lies by US's anti-China forces."

"We note the statement and hope the relevant company will respect facts and tell right from wrong," he added.

Intel has 10,000 employees in China, which was its biggest customer in 2020, generating a net revenue of $20.26 billion. But it isn’t the only US tech giant with close ties to the Asian nation. China is also one of Apple’s biggest markets; a recent report claims that CEO Tim Cook signed a secret $275 billion investment deal with Chinese officials to help the company succeed in the country

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https://www.techspot.com/news/92737-intel-apologizes-china-after-warning-suppliers-about-xinjiang.html

 

[psycros]

It still amazes me that these companies are so desperate for Chinese money they'll keep sending them their blueprints. And a year or two later they just throw their hands up go, "Oh, well" when their stolen designs hit the CCP-run grey market.

 

[Kosmoz]

Intel has 10,000 employees in China, which was its biggest customer in 2020, generating a net revenue of $20.26 billion.

That's why!

This is such a funny paradox, all these western companies if they could, they would say bye-bye to China forever, like yesterday, but they can't when it's the no.1 market in the world for them, lol. So have a love-hate relationship, so funny...

I'm watching this laughing and the popcorn is ready... I wonder what will it happen next...

 

[Vulcanproject]

The Chinese Communist Party and their nationalist minions will never stop this behaviour until enough companies and organisations just pull the plug. They will only get more and more manipulative. This works both ways. Yes China offers up a huge market and big money. If investment is yanked, jobs go, and their economic growth slows because big multinationals no longer want to be under the thumb of the CCP then they will soften their rhetoric.

Big American companies are just sleep walking into China for the short term gains. They find all their lucrative tech is stolen quickly, and that will have a long term effect for both them and for American national security. China are playing capitalist countries at their own game, and winning. They have identified that greed is the true weakness and it will be the downfall of the West.

 

[Avro Arrow]

"It seems not everyone in China is convinced by Chipzilla’s response. "Is Intel's apology sincere?" was trending on Weibo earlier today."
Well, this is proof that the Chinese are no dummies.

 

[NicktheWVAHick]

Just like the Chinese apologized to us for ullnleashing “Red Death” upon the world through sloppy, irresponsible US-taxpayer supported biological gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Virology Institute. Or did someone in the Wuhan Wet Market just make a bad sandwich that killed 5.9 million worldwide (and counting).

 

[bviktor]

That's why!

This is such a funny paradox, all these western companies if they could, they would say bye-bye to China forever, like yesterday, but they can't when it's the no.1 market in the world for them, lol. So have a love-hate relationship, so funny...

I'm watching this laughing and the popcorn is ready... I wonder what will it happen next...

It's not just the market, it's also often the place of manufacturing.

Thankfully, more and more companies are moving their chains somewhere else, e.g. many iPhones are now made in India.

 

[trieste1s]

The Chinese Communist Party and their nationalist minions will never stop this behaviour until enough companies and organisations just pull the plug. They will only get more and more manipulative. This works both ways. Yes China offers up a huge market and big money. If investment is yanked, jobs go, and their economic growth slows because big multinationals no longer want to be under the thumb of the CCP then they will soften their rhetoric.

Big American companies are just sleep walking into China for the short term gains. They find all their lucrative tech is stolen quickly, and that will have a long term effect for both them and for American national security. China are playing capitalist countries at their own game, and winning. They have identified that greed is the true weakness and it will be the downfall of the West.

https://news.sky.com/story/cyber-is-changing-war-but-its-peace-we-should-worry-about-11615783

 

[Vulcanproject]

https://news.sky.com/story/cyber-is-changing-war-but-its-peace-we-should-worry-about-11615783

It has happened throughout history, continuously. The difference is here America/the West is making it easy for China right now. Very easy.

I have studied the Soviet Union from birth to death and their theft of industrial secrets is incredible. However the worst of it happened because it was allowed to happen. From the early 1930s through to the late 1940s they were practically invited in to American and Western institutions. They were not considered a major threat. They were educated and handed most everything they wanted. There is quite a lot written now on one particular guy called Stanislav Shumovsky and his circle of fellow students. Fascinating history.

When it was apparent what was happening and that they were a threat, this became far more difficult. Did it stop? No. Did it slow their progress? Very much so.

The USA has good advantages still, I think innovation and freedom is key. You can't steal those. But the barriers need to go up like they did in the 1950s if the USA is to maintain technological and economical superiority.

 

[BadThad]

The real liars are the CCP, they have no problem telling bold faced lies. They engineered and spread a virus intentionally, they stoop to the lowest low in the name of spreading communism. Unfortunately the rot has spread into America where the MSM and leftists defend China daily. Worse yet, we have a compromised president that's on the take with China too. Looks like their plans for a world take over are working well.

 

[Irata]

The USA has good advantages still, I think innovation and freedom is key. You can't steal those. But the barriers need to go up like they did in the 1950s if the USA is to maintain technological and economical superiority.

This, plus its culture has always shone brightly. That said, it seems like some have been hard at work trying to eliminate these advantages.

 

[Sausagemeat]

Well I did not expect Intel to be the ones standing up agains the Chinese communist party, kudos to them for that. However, im pretty sure western companies are only in China to take advantage of the thin labour laws and low wages. The Chinese work their population to the bone with their 996 work schedule (9am-9pm 6 days a week), they pay them less than $15k per year on average (quite a lot less than that for factory workers). This is so they can undercut the rest of the world and the only world leader I have ever seen criticise them for that was Donald Trump. Biden probably thinks China is what he eats his soup out of. The Chinese grab you by the corporations, who in turn lobby western governments to look the other way when the Chinese do genocide or whatever.

Im glad that people in China are wondering if Intels apology was sincere. I imagine it really isnt, “Oh we are sorry that we condemned your Uyghur camps, we take it back because that’s perfectly ok”.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

I wonder if Nazi Germany also referred to their camps as "vocational training centers"...

 

[p51d007]

Not just "big tech".
Look at a lot of the major sports institutions. They play favor to the CCP because of the $$$$

 

[amghwk]

Better to throw every ounce of dignity you have and bow your head like a slave and eat your words without shame than to lose that $20.26 billion dollars from the chinese investment, yes?

 

[Bluescreendeath]

It has happened throughout history, continuously. The difference is here America/the West is making it easy for China right now. Very easy.

I have studied the Soviet Union from birth to death and their theft of industrial secrets is incredible. However the worst of it happened because it was allowed to happen. From the early 1930s through to the late 1940s they were practically invited in to American and Western institutions. They were not considered a major threat. They were educated and handed most everything they wanted. There is quite a lot written now on one particular guy called Stanislav Shumovsky and his circle of fellow students. Fascinating history.

When it was apparent what was happening and that they were a threat, this became far more difficult. Did it stop? No. Did it slow their progress? Very much so.

The USA has good advantages still, I think innovation and freedom is key. You can't steal those. But the barriers need to go up like they did in the 1950s if the USA is to maintain technological and economical superiority.

First, the Soviet Union was mostly state socialist. Modern China is mostly capitalist + combined with some significant state socialist, but really only pretends to be Communist. China's mostly capitalist economy has some huge advantages over the Soviet primarily socialist economy.

Second, inviting people to learn and be educated in Western institutions isn't the issue. Historically, most educated immigrants stay in the West and provide a positive brain surplus, and this brain surplus significantly outweighs any negatives of potential spying. For every immigrant scientist who turns out to be a spy, you have hundreds to thousands of immigrant scientists who decide to stay and positively contribute to the science and technology of this country.

Wikipedia for example has a short list of hundreds of Russian American immigrant scientists born in the USSR who contributed to the USA in math, science, technology, etc.

The main issue is when state and corporation institutions directly steal technology from other companies, or when STEM people begin engage in direct espionage of selling pre-existing confidential technology to other countries (usually for profit).

 

[Dimitrios]

The real liars are the CCP, they have no problem telling bold faced lies. They engineered and spread a virus intentionally, they stoop to the lowest low in the name of spreading communism. Unfortunately the rot has spread into America where the MSM and leftists defend China daily. Worse yet, we have a compromised president that's on the take with China too. Looks like their plans for a world take over are working well.

Just wanna say thanks for stating this on this site. I notice certain sites will remove that kind of comment or be labeled as a black sheep or even a troll. Thank you for having the ballz to state this and I wish more people did. It depressed me and scares how some people can't see the truth. It's so obvious. COMMONSENSE & THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX IS A DYING BREED. The censoring everywhere is getting out of hand and if look into you will see the cherry picking is being used to keep the truth away from others. Good example, FAKEBOOK, FAKETUBE, FAKETUBE now removed the DOWN vote counter.

The funny part look up the updated terms of Youtube. They state some weird things one being protecting the chancellor, also mentioned protecting COVID details, about America's president and something about what's happening in Austria and use of power from COVID and something else.

 

[ypsylon]

You don't apologize to criminals.

You cut ties with them not the other way round.

China - biggest concentration camp in the World.

 

[Vulcanproject]

First, the Soviet Union was mostly state socialist. Modern China is mostly capitalist + combined with some significant state socialist, but really only pretends to be Communist. China's mostly capitalist economy has some huge advantages over the Soviet primarily socialist economy.

Second, inviting people to learn and be educated in Western institutions isn't the issue. Historically, most educated immigrants stay in the West and provide a positive brain surplus, and this brain surplus significantly outweighs any negatives of potential spying. For every immigrant scientist who turns out to be a spy, you have hundreds to thousands of immigrant scientists who decide to stay and positively contribute to the science and technology of this country.

Wikipedia for example has a short list of hundreds of Russian American immigrant scientists born in the USSR who contributed to the USA in math, science, technology, etc.

The main issue is when state and corporation institutions directly steal technology from other companies, or when STEM people begin engage in direct espionage of selling pre-existing confidential technology to other countries (usually for profit).

I think it is self evident that China today is an authoritarian dictatorship not a communist state. The comparisons was drawn because their situation since 1949 was similar. Largely agrarian society, with a mindset that the more advanced regional powers are not their friends. The goal is the same-capture technologies to close the gap.

Shumovsky was raised since he and his peers at that time were specifically sent as ideologically reliable spies. In his particular case he had extensive training and education prior to his arrival, was a Red Army officer and was allowed to insert into the upper echelons of the most sensitive areas of military related development. While there he was paid absolutely no attention whatsoever. Operating in plain sight. He had easy access to information that should have been kept classified and far less readily available. I see you're unfamiliar with the case.

 

[hahahanoobs]

If China is stealing tech from the west, they are doing a better job with what they took than we are. Have you seen what they have there? Robots, 100% cashless payment systems, high speed trains, electric vehicles everywhere, AI etc etc etc. The list is massive.

The west is full of thieves like anywhere else. We aren't special. Just because one side is worse, doesn't give all parties a free pass. That's not how progress works. Own it. And do better. Blame games are for guilty children.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

Just wanna say thanks for stating this on this site. I notice certain sites will remove that kind of comment or be labeled as a black sheep or even a troll. Thank you for having the ballz to state this and I wish more people did. It depressed me and scares how some people can't see the truth. It's so obvious. COMMONSENSE & THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX IS A DYING BREED. The censoring everywhere is getting out of hand and if look into you will see the cherry picking is being used to keep the truth away from others. Good example, FAKEBOOK, FAKETUBE, FAKETUBE now removed the DOWN vote counter.

The funny part look up the updated terms of Youtube. They state some weird things one being protecting the chancellor, also mentioned protecting COVID details, about America's president and something about what's happening in Austria and use of power from COVID and something else.

Since when are conspiracy theories with little to no evidence (in fact contrary to evidence) considered common sense? Since when does it take courage to repeat conspiracies that actually defy common sense? You just need bold faced stupidity to ignore the facts for that. I can claim the earth is flat too - does that make me courageous? I can claim there is a secret civilization living in the center of the planet, that Egyptian pyramids are alien landing pads, that (INSERT X RACE) has a shadow conspiracy of taking over the world. Wow, I'm so courageous for claiming controversial things that makes little to no sense and have zero evidence.

Claiming that China intentionally releasing an "engineered" virus in their own country first is one of the dumbest conspiracies when you look at some basic facts. China has a half assed vaccine that has half the protection rate as Western vaccines, and they're still crippling their economy with COVID shutdowns. They also completely botched their initial handling of the virus. They created a virus and then unleased it on themselves while being completely unprepared? Does that make any sense? Use your head.

Not to mention scientists around the world say the current virus resembles natural coronaviruses found in bats and is unlikely to have been engineered in a lab. And even the lab leak theory that has some evidence behind it says it was actually a natural virus that leaked from a lab - not a man made created virus.

And speaking of defending China, who praised China for months when the virus was spreading and even praised the Chinese govt? Donald Trump! Go look up Trump's tweets praising Dictator XI Jinping's actions and praising the CCP's response on the coronavirus. It's funny how political bias can cause people to have extremely selective memories regarding this issue of who praised China.

PS: Youtube removing the downvote counter is dumb, but some social media sites like Techspot that we're commenting right now don't have it in the first place. And Facebook removing the downvote counter is going back to their original roots of not having them back when they were still mostly for younger/college folks...rather than being used by older folks and overrun by foreign and domestic conspiracy theories today. But Facebook has been going downhill for years anyways...

 

[Bluescreendeath]

The real liars are the CCP, they have no problem telling bold faced lies. They engineered and spread a virus intentionally, they stoop to the lowest low in the name of spreading communism. Unfortunately the rot has spread into America where the MSM and leftists defend China daily. Worse yet, we have a compromised president that's on the take with China too. Looks like their plans for a world take over are working well.

Claiming that China intentionally releasing an "engineered" virus in their own country first is one of the dumbest conspiracies when you look at some basic facts. China has a half assed vaccine that has half the protection rate as Western vaccines, and they're still crippling their economy with COVID shutdowns. They also completely botched their initial handling of the virus. They created a virus and then unleased it on themselves while being completely unprepared? Does that make any sense? Use your head.

Not to mention scientists around the world say the current virus resembles natural coronaviruses found in bats and is unlikely to have been engineered in a lab. And even the lab leak theory that has some evidence behind it says it was actually a natural virus that leaked from a lab - not a man made created virus.

And speaking of defending China, who praised China for months when the virus was spreading and even praised the Chinese govt? Donald Trump! Go look up Trump's tweets praising Dictator XI Jinping's actions and praising the CCP's response on the coronavirus. It's funny how political bias can cause people to have extremely selective memories regarding this issue of who praised China.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

This is so they can undercut the rest of the world and the only world leader I have ever seen criticise them for that was Donald Trump.

Donald Trump contradicts his own actions regularly, which is why he has plausible deniability in everything. Donald Trump praised CHina as much as he criticized them. Look at all the times Donald Trump praised China in early 2020 (around COVID was happening):

Jan 22:
“One of the many great things about our just signed giant Trade Deal with China is that it will bring both the USA & China closer together in so many other ways. Terrific working with President Xi, a man who truly loves his country. Much more to come!”

Jan 24th Twitter: “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”

Jan 30th: "China is not in great shape right now, unfortunately. But they're working very hard. We'll see what happens. But we're working very closely with China and other countries."

Feb 7th: "I just spoke to President Xi last night, and, you know, we're working on the — the problem, the virus. It's a — it's a very tough situation. But I think he's going to handle it. I think he's handled it really well. We're helping wherever we can."

“Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days … Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!"

Feb 10th:
"I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control," Trump said. "I really believe they are going to have it under control fairly soon. You know in April, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather. And that's a beautiful date to look forward to. But China I can tell you is working very hard."

“I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard. And I think it’s all going to work out fine.”

Feb 23rd:
"I think President Xi is working very, very hard. I spoke to him. He's working very hard. I think he's doing a very good job. It's a big problem. But President Xi loves his country. He's working very hard to solve the problem, and he will solve the problem. OK?"

Feb 26th:
“China is working very, very hard. I have spoken to President Xi, and they’re working very hard. And if you know anything about him, I think he’ll be in pretty good shape. They’re — they’ve had a rough patch, and I think right now they have it — it looks like they’re getting it under control more and more. They’re getting it more and more under control.”

Feb 27th-29th:
“I spoke with President Xi. We had a great talk. He’s working very hard, I have to say. He’s working very, very hard. And if you can count on the reports coming out of China, that spread has gone down quite a bit. The infection seems to have gone down over the last two days. As opposed to getting larger, it’s actually gotten smaller.”
“China seems to be making tremendous progress. Their numbers are way down. … I think our relationship with China is very good. We just did a big trade deal. We’re starting on another trade deal with China — a very big one. And we’ve been working very closely. They’ve been talking to our people, we’ve been talking to their people, having to do with the virus.”

 

[Nobina]

People were somehow taught that companies are supposed to make profits any possible way they can and that's just how it is. As long as this continues China will dominate.

 

[captaincranky]

Oh well, I think that Intel made the right and practical move by apologizing, This way, they get to decide what the future's timetable on their China fab will be

They take a hit at the moment and lose some face. But on the other hand, they have many fabs under construction. Ostensibly, the profits they make by keeping the China fab open, could be diverted to their projects now under construction. So you don't "scuttle the ship", you gradually take work away from China, and just leave the sh!t work there. Then when everything else is up and running, you close that fab, pack up your gear, and leave China with a huge empty warehouse.

Is that what will happen? I don't know. But it's certainly a sound tactical approach that Intel's CEO should carefully consider.