There's a good piece in this week's Economist following the latest twist in the sale of IBM's PC-making business.
Three senior Republican Congressmen are lobbying against the proposed $1.75 billion purchase of IBM's personal-computer business by Lenovo, China's largest PC maker. They claim that it will allow the Chinese government to acquire sensitive American technology and, potentially, use IBM's facilities to spy for the Chinese Armed forces.
In a letter to the treasury secretary, John Snow, the trio wrote that the deal "may transfer advanced US technology and corporate assets to the Chinese government". Lenovo's parent company was founded, and is still controlled by, the Chinese Academy of Science.
The piece gives the Congressmen short shrift, and rightly so. Whatever misgivings one may have over the deal, particularly in terms of jobs, it seems like a rather desperate roll of the dice to claim that it's a bad thing on security grounds.
IBM is selling off its PC manufacturing business, a well established technology which Lenovo are already keenly aware of. The idea that it will help Chinese intelligence infiltrate America's military secrets seems more than just a little ludicrous.
