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Lenovo’s plan to purchase IBM’s server business has hit a snag, with United States (US) government officials worrying the deal will give China backdoor access to the country’s secrets, according to a report.
In January Lenovo confirmed its plans to buy IBM’s x86 server business for US$2.3 billion, of which US$2 billion will be paid in cash and the remainder in Lenovo stock.
Bloomberg reports the Pentagon, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and numerous telecommunications giants buy the servers.
According to the Bloomberg, the deal will be scrutinised by the Committee on Foreign Investments in the US, an interagency group mandated to investigate foreign acquisitions of US-based companies.
China-US links were destabilised last month by allegations the Obama-lead government had infiltrated the servers of Chinese company Huawei.
The New York Times was provided with classified documents describing “Shotgiant”, in which the NSA detailed attempts to gain access to Huawei servers as early as 2010.
Huawei responded by condemning the alleged infiltration.
“If the actions in the report are true, Huawei condemns such activities that invaded and infiltrated into our internal corporate network and monitored our communications,” Huawei’s global cyber security officer, John Suffolk, told Reuters.
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