Chinese social media slams Intel for stance on Uyghur region

Chinese state media has slammed US tech company Intel following the latter's recent statement requiring all its supply chain not to source goods or services or use labour from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Analysts said that Intel's discriminative stance against Xinjiang, coming at a time when the US government intensified crackdown on Chinese technology companies, is a calibrated "cunning" move that aims to please the US government, while the move will only cause limited harm to its business, Global Times reported.

But some analysts warned that Intel's discrimination against China's Xinjiang region will backfire among Chinese customers and end users, and taint its international image, adding that the move will eventually take a toll on Intel's sales in China, its largest source of business revenue, the report said. 

Chinese netizens' tsunami of anger was reflected in the comments left on Intel's Chinese Weibo account, with majority of them demanding Intel should apologise and clarify its statement about Xinjiang.

According to a policy statement released by Intel earlier this month, the company said that "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 labour or source goods or services from the Xinjiang region", while stressing that the company prohibits "the use of any human trafficked labour, such as forced, debt-bonded, prison, indentured or slave labour. 

China has remained Intel's top revenue generator since 2015, according to its annual financial statements, the report said.

In 2020, Intel generated $20.26 billion from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong market in total.

Analysts said that Intel's competitors such as Qualcomm have done a better job in forging closer ties with Chinese market players, the report said.