United States

Utah Spent $34 Million on Risky Chinese Tech, Time For State To Take Action

Posted on by China Tech Threat
In February, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, urged the Biden Administration to implement recently passed bipartisan legislation requiring the US to develop a comprehensive strategy addressing the China threat, stating, “it drives me nuts to watch us deal with China.” This is not just an issue to be dealt with in the halls of Congress.  Between 2018 and 2021, Sen. Romney’s home state of Utah has spent more than $34 million on risky Chinese technology from Lenovo, including for the Attorney General’s Office. (Read the Fact Sheet on Utah’s spending here.) Unfortunately, Utah’s $34 million expense triples the expense from just a few years ago, when our prior report indicated that the state spent $11 million between 2016-2020. (See our March… Read More

U.S. Government on Export Controls: “Do As I Say, Not As I Do”

Posted on by China Tech Threat
Bloomberg reports that the Commerce Department’s Deputy Secretary recently flew to the Netherlands to lobby the Dutch technology company ASML from selling advanced chipmaking equipment to China. That trip raises the question – if the U.S. government is lobbying other nations to curb exports of sensitive technologies, why isn’t the Commerce Department using its power to put export controls on certain American chipmaking technologies bound for China? ASML is one of the world’s most important companies in the chipmaking ecosystem. As China Tech Threat noted in its white paper on semiconductor export control policies, “only ASML produces extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography equipment, which is necessary to manufacture state-of-the-art 5 nm chips.” Will Hunt, Saif Kahn (now at the National Security… Read More

Lenovo Appears to Still Be Selling Technology to Russia. That Should Warrant U.S. Scrutiny

Posted on by China Tech Threat
Following pleas from the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister to stop supplying Russia, Taiwanese PC maker ASUS announced this week that it has ceased shipments and will abide by “all international regulations.” The same cannot be said of China’s Lenovo, the world’s largest personal computer manufacturer—at least not with certainty. Despite reports that Lenovo stopped sales in Russia, other media reporting suggests that the company—which controls 18.5% of the Russian PC market (compared to ASUS’ 15.6%)—continues to do business there. Lenovo has not offered an official statement of whether it is maintaining its operations in Russia. “Xi Jinping’s role in Ukraine is far less visible than Vladimir Putin’s, but make no mistake: China is also a combatant in the war,” Gordon… Read More