Intel Apologizes After Asking Suppliers To Avoid China's Xinjiang Region

Intel Corporation INTC has apologized to its Chinese customer base after sending a letter to its global suppliers urging them not to source products from the Xinjiang region where the Chinese government has been accused of human rights abuses against its Uyghur and other Turkic minorities of the Muslim faith.

What Happened: According to a Wall Street Journal, Intel’s letter — which was published in several languages on its website — requested that its business partners avoid doing business with Xinjiang because “multiple governments have imposed restrictions on products sourced from the Xinjiang region. Therefore, Intel is required to ensure our supply chain does not use any labor or source goods or services from the Xinjiang region.”

Chinese state-run media and the nation’s social media channels — which consist almost entirely of pro-government messaging — took aim at Intel. The Global Times newspaper ran an editorial accusing Intel of being subservient to U.S. government demands while insisting that China's leadership should make it “increasingly expensive for companies to offend China.”

The editorial also called for more Chinese self-reliance in the semiconductor realm, declaring, “An important reason why Intel dares to offend China over the Xinjiang-related affairs is that it holds the monopoly of the global chip market.”

Intel’s letter also resulted in Chinese pop star Karry Wang from the boy band TFBoys ending his role as Intel’s brand ambassador in China.

“National interests trumps everything,” Wang’s management office said on the Weibo social media platform.

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What Happened Next: Intel responded to a backlash by issuing an apology on its Chinese-facing social media platforms.

“We deeply apologize for the confusion caused to our respected Chinese customers, partners and the public,” Intel said in a statement, adding that it was attempting to be in compliance with U.S. law and was not a reflection of the company’s stance on Xinjiang.

Although the company did not identify the U.S. legislation directly, it was clearly a reference to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which passed the Congress and was signed by President Joe Biden into law.

Human rights organizations have reported that the Chinese government imprisoned up to one million members of the mostly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang internment camps, subjecting them to slave labor, forced birth control and torture. The few Western companies doing business in China that raised the issue of Xinjiang — including Adidas AG - ADR ADDYY and Hennes Mauritz ADR HNNMY, the parent company of H&M — were forced to backpedal their comments after state-run media and Chinese social media users berated their comments.

Photo: The JoshMeister / Flickr Creative Commons