China-Linked Group Ordered to Divest Stake in Scottish Chipmaker

Ross Evans’ commentary was included in a Global Competition Review article covering the UK government’s ordering of China-linked chipmaker, FTDI Holdings, to divest its entire stake in a Scottish semiconductor company over concerns its technology and intellectual property could be used to undermine national security.

Ross said the usage of FTDI’s products in critical national infrastructure (CNI) likely played into the government’s calculus that only a full divestiture would address its concerns: “Any vulnerability in individual components could open the door to a wider exploit or impairment of the CNI concerned, and USB devices and controllers are a particularly prevalent point of attack and entry into other systems,” he said.