Supermicro asks suppliers to stop making parts in China

Server manufacturer Supermicro has asked its suppliers to stop manufacturing parts in China, according to a Japanese newspaper. The company’s major U.S. customers, particularly government agencies, are said to request hardware not made in China.

This mainly concerns customers from the American government, Nikkei Asian Review reports based on anonymous sources. They would be afraid of espionage because of the trade conflict between the two countries. Supermicro has not confirmed the information. The company recently said it was opening a major facility in Taiwan and expanding its US headquarters.

The move comes six months after the allegation by Bloomberg news agency that there are spy chips on Supermicro motherboards. The companies involved and the governments of the US and China denied the story, although Bloomberg itself insists. An external audit found no spy chips on motherboards from the American manufacturer.

Supermicro is not the only one that would get its production from China. According to Digitimes Research, half of global motherboards were produced in China in 2018, up from 90 percent in 2017.