Super Micro Tells Senators No Evidence of Chinese Hardware Hack

(Bloomberg) -- Super Micro Computer Inc. said in a letter to two U.S. senators that it has seen no evidence of any tampering with its 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.

“We take the integrity of our products seriously,” the company said in response to questions posed by Senators Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat.

The Wednesday letter from Perry Hayes, president of Supermicro Netherlands, added: “With respect to the recent media reports, Supermicro has seen no evidence of any unauthorized components in our products, no government agency has informed us that they have found unauthorized components on our boards, and no customer has reported finding any such unauthorized components.”

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 Central Intelligence Agency and communicate with the International Space Station.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Laurie Asséo

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.