Dell, Micron Backed a Group Raising Alarms on Rivals’ China Ties
China Tech Threat’s advocacy aligns with the corporate interests of Dell and Micron, which have supported the group financially, say people familiar with the group.
When a Chinese balloon outfitted with surveillance equipment drifted across US skies in early 2023, it set off a nationwide panic about espionage. One opinion essay in Newsweek argued that electronic spying was far broader than most people realized, drawing a parallel between the device floating above Montana and the glut of Chinese-made Lenovo computers in American government offices.
The author, retired US Army General James “Spider” Marks, suggested those computers were sending data to the Chinese Communist Party, and advocated for legislation that could ban them. One study he cited was from a research and advocacy group where he serves as a principal. The group, China Tech Threat (CTT), tallied how much US government agencies spend on equipment from Lenovo, which counts the Chinese government as a significant indirect shareholder. But it made no mention of the money Dell Technologies Inc., one of Lenovo’s biggest competitors, has spent to fund CTT.