McGovern, Rubio Ask CEOs of Intel and NVIDIA About Possible Involvement in Human Rights Abuses in Xinjiang

Washington, December 14, 2020

Washington, D.C. — Representative James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), the Chair and Cochair, respectively, of the bipartisan and bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China sent letters to the Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of both Intel Corporation and NVIDIA seeking additional information about the sale of advanced computer chips helping to power a supercomputer used by People’s Republic of China (PRC) security forces to conduct mass surveillance and other human rights abuses against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other predominately Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

The Chairs asked the CEOs for a response to questions about their exports to the PRC, including whether they knew that their technology would be used to support surveillance activities of the PRC police and security entities and whether they took steps to ensure that their products were not used for human rights abuses or to compromise U.S. national security. 

The full text of the letter to Intel Corporation is here and the full text of the letter to NVIDIA is here.