Two US senators sent a letter to Super Micro Computer Inc asking if and when the company found evidence of tampering with hardware components after a Bloomberg Businessweek report described how China’s intelligence services used subcontractors to plant malicious chips in the company’s server motherboards.
US senators Marco Rubio and Richard Blumenthal on Tuesday gave the company until Wednesday next week to respond to a list of questions that also includes whether the company investigated its supply chain and cooperated with US law enforcement.
In Bloomberg Businessweek’s report, one official said investigators found that the Chinese infiltration through Super Micro reached almost 30 companies, including Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc.
Super Micro, Amazon and Apple disputed the findings.
The US Department of Homeland Security said it has “no reason to doubt” the companies’ denials of Bloomberg Businessweek’s reporting.
“We are alarmed about the dangers posed by backdoors, and take any claimed threat to the nation’s networks and supply chain seriously,” the lawmakers said in the letter. “These new allegations require thorough answers and urgent investigation for customers, law enforcement and Congress.”
Cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important topic of congressional investigation following concerns about foreign actors compromising election security and technology infrastructure.
Among the targets of the Chinese hack identified by Bloomberg was a contractor that made software to help funnel drone footage to the CIA and communicate with the International Space Station.
The infiltration of the computer systems, which stemmed from servers assembled by Super Micro, was investigated as part of an FBI counter-intelligence probe, the Bloomberg Businessweek report, citing national security officials familiar with the matter.
Investigators found that tiny microchips, not much bigger than a grain of rice, had been inserted during manufacturing in China onto equipment made by subcontractors of Super Micro.
The San Jose, California-based company is one of the world’s biggest suppliers of server motherboards, the fiber-mounted clusters of chips and capacitors that act as neurons of data centers.
Investigators determined that the chips allowed the attackers to create a stealth doorway into any network that included the altered machines, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
In e-mailed statements, Amazon, Apple and Super Micro disputed Bloomberg Businessweek’s reporting.
“We hope parties make less gratuitous accusations and suspicions, but conduct more constructive talk and collaboration,” the Chinese government said in an e-mailed statement.
Bloomberg News on Tuesday reported that a major US telecommunications company discovered manipulated hardware from Super Micro and removed it in August, citing Yossi Appleboum, a security expert for the telecommunications company.
He provided documents, analysis and other evidence of the discovery after the publication of the Bloomberg Businessweek report.
Bloomberg is not identifying the company due to Appleboum’s non-disclosure agreement with the client.
Based on his inspection of the device, Appleboum determined that the telecom company’s server was modified at the factory where it was manufactured.
He said that he was told by Western intelligence contacts that the device was made at a Super Micro subcontractor factory in Guangzhou, China.
Guangzhou is dubbed the “Silicon Valley of Hardware,” and home to giants such as Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (華為).
“The security of our customers and the integrity of our products are core to our business and our company values. We take care to secure the integrity of our products throughout the manufacturing process, and supply chain security is an important topic of discussion for our industry,” Super Micro said in a statement in response to questions about Appleboum’s allegations. “We still have no knowledge of any unauthorized components and have not been informed by any customer that such components have been found.”
“We have received and are reviewing the letter from Senator Rubio and Senator Blumenthal,” the firm said. “We take the integrity of our products seriously and look forward to engaging on these important matters.”
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”