Supermicro tells customers it is looking for Chinese spy chips on motherboards ‘despite lack of proof’
- The hardware maker says a ‘complicated and time-consuming review’ is under way, after Bloomberg claimed spy chips gave Beijing access to US firms and agencies
Computer hardware maker Super Micro Computer Inc said on Monday it would review its motherboards for any proof of malware chips, which a recent report by Bloomberg contended had been planted by Chinese spies.
“Despite the lack of any proof that a malicious hardware chip exists, we are undertaking a complicated and time-consuming review to further address the article,” the server and storage manufacturer, based in San Jose, California, said in a letter to its customers dated Thursday.
Shares of the company, which does business as Supermicro, rose 4.3 per cent to US$14.70 on Monday.
A Bloomberg report on October 4 cited 17 unidentified sources from intelligence agencies and businesses claiming that Chinese spies had placed computer chips inside equipment used by about 30 companies, including Apple and Amazon, and multiple US government agencies, which would give Beijing secret access to internal networks.
Supermicro denied the allegations made in the report.
This technique would only be used for high-value targets that couldn’t be easily compromised via another attack vector