Tim Cook Demands Bloomberg to Retract Controversial Chinese Spy Chip Story

Tim Cook Apple CEO Credit: Hadrian / Shutterstock
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Apple CEO Tim Cook is calling on Bloomberg to retract its controversial story concerning Chinese spy chips.

The Bloomberg piece in question alleged that the Chinese military had planted chips on motherboards used in Apple servers when they were being produced in the region by a company named Super Micro.

Apple published a strongly worded denial of the story shortly after its publication. But Cook’s comments, which appeared in a recent interview with BuzzFeed News, mark the first time that the Apple chief executive has gone on record to deny claims made in Bloomberg’s story.

While Apple did end its relationship with SuperMicro over a security incident, it was reportedly due to a single “accidental” situation unrelated to the widespread hacking alleged in Bloomberg’s story.

The Apple CEO said he’s been involved with the company’s role in the story “from the beginning,” adding that he personally spoke with Bloomberg reporters and was “very clear with them that this did not happen.”

“Each time they brought this up to us, the story changed and each time we investigated we found nothing,” Cook told BuzzFeed News.

Cook said that Bloomberg did not provide Apple with any specific details, and instead sourced its claims on “vague secondhand accounts.” But that didn’t stop the Cupertino tech giant from thoroughly investigating those claims.

“We turned the company upside down. Email searches, data center records, financial records, shipment records,” Cook said. “We really forensically whipped through the company to dig very deep and each time we came back to the same conclusion: This did not happen. There’s no truth to this.”

The Apple CEO, notably, called on Bloomberg to retract the story — which is an unprecedented move for the company. BuzzFeed points out that Apple has never publicly asked a news outlet to retract a story, even in cases when incorrect information is being circulated.

Bloomberg, for their part, told BuzzFeed News that they “stand by” their story and are confident in their reporters and sources.

The supposed Chinese spy chip scandal allegedly affected various technology companies to access corporate secrets and other confidential information. Two of the other firms mentioned in the piece, Amazon and chipmaker Super Micro, also strongly denied the claims.

Bloomberg said it based its information on 17 unnamed sources in the technology field and within government for its story.

But it’s worth noting that a variety of people in the cybersecurity and intelligence fields have also questioned the authenticity of the Bloomberg story — and said that they had no prior knowledge of such a scandal.

That includes individuals such as NSA Senior Advisor Rob Joyce and former FBI general counsel James Baker, as well as government entities like the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.K.’s Cyber Security Agency.

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