[sgnelson]

That Supermicro story was never confirmed/verified. All the companies involved denied that it happened (that doesn't mean much however) but no other reporters were able verify the story as far as I'm aware. With Bloomberg saying they had something like 12 anonymous sources, the likelihood that the NYT, Washington Post, Wired, etc. etc. etc. were not able to reach any of the same sources or corroboration says something.

Also, if these things were out there in such a large supply, I would have expected some hacker would have literally found an old board and found the chip and presented it to the world as evidence.

In terms of a coverup, this was during the first Trump term, and he's not exactly a fan of China, so I don't see any real reason the entire US business and intelligence community would keep it a secret (never mind the fact that if they can keep it a secret... and contact their traditional ways of leaking, not Bloomberg.)

I'm not saying it didn't happen, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and there has been effectively zero evidence presented.

And I'm not debating the fact that I'm sure it can happen and will happen. But let's stick with facts, not just some rumors.

(This post written without an AI summary.)

[tonymet]

I remember in one of the reports seeing a scan of the board with the inconsistent chip. The premise is plausible. It's not rocket science, so the bar for believing it is pretty low.

12 anonymous testimonies and a story is not zero evidence. Most of the history you are taught in school has a similar bar.

[sgnelson]

"Most of the history you are taught in school has a similar bar."

No, it does not.