We all know that piracy is an issue worldwide, with various reasons and various causes. One of the largest markets for pirated goods is in many Asian countries, where western-based laws may not apply or regulations are harder to enforce. In particular, Microsoft has been hammering away trying to get more of China's PCs to go legit.
Recently, a probe by the FBI has looked into many "pirating syndicates" in China, trying to discover the level of piracy and hopefully put a curb to it. Over the past two years the operation has been underway, and to date they have found over $500 million worth in pirated goods. This comes from hits on at least six facilities, from which over 290,000 CDs and fake certificates of authenticity were found.
Despite all that, the estimate is that those figures represent only 10% of the actual loss due to piracy in China. Then again, Smashing up warehouses is probably not the best way to combat piracy. The software and equipment seemed primarily geared towards Microsoft and Symantec products.