In the tech world, the Chinese multinational Lenovo Group Ltd. is a juggernaut. That's why United States officials are taking a closer look at a recent deal made by Lenovo to purchase a server unit from IBM for $2.3 billion. In short, the government fears that valuable intelligence secrets could be leaked out to China through IBM's tech servers -- but why would that happen in the first place?
For one thing, the Pentagon uses IBM servers. The FBI uses IBM servers. Some of America's largest telecommunications companies use IBM servers, according to Telegram.com. That has some of the top officials in the U.S. worried that the servers could give the Chinese inside access to the information on those servers. The deal plans to expand Lenovo's presence in North Carolina to nearly 5,000.
The agency called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. -- known as CFIUS for short -- will handle the investigation, The Inquirer reports. This deal was made all the way back in January, so what's taking the examiners so long to decide whether or not the deal will stand? At this point, it's not entirely certain.
What is certain, however, is that the U.S. has approved similar...