Shenzhen authorities have dismantled a counterfeit chip operation that allegedly sold reclaimed and rebranded integrated circuits as premium imports from Infineon, Texas Instruments, and other Western semiconductor firms. According to reporting by the South China Morning Post, police spent four months investigating the ring, which resurfaced discarded chips, laser-polished their markings, and re-labeled them with high-spec part numbers before distributing them through shell companies posing as foreign agents.
At least one arrest has been made, and officials say they’ve begun coordinating with international suppliers to trace affected batches. The SCMP attributes the original tipoff to China’s Rule-of-Law Daily, which claims the chips were targeted at downstream industries, including automotive and industrial control.
