Intel apologized Thursday after a letter in which the chipmaker said it would avoid products and labor from Xinjiang set off an outcry on Chinese social media, making it the latest U.S. company caught between the world’s two largest economies.
The chipmaker apologized to its Chinese customers, partners and the public in a Chinese-language statement on Weibo, the popular social media site. The company said the letter, which had been sent to suppliers, was an effort at expressing its compliance with U.S. sanctions against Xinjiang, rather than a political stance.
China has pushed back against accusations of forced labor in Xinjiang, and Intel’s letter made the chipmaker a target of widespread condemnation. "Intel bites the hand that feeds it,” read a headline of one commentary in a nationalist newspaper. A celebrity dropped the brand.