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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) released a statement following reports that Intel Corporation removed references to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in a letter to suppliers. In December, Intel urged its suppliers to avoid the region as it became clear that Rubio’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act would become law. Intel later apologized for its wording in a post on Chinese social media and later updated its letter to remove the reference entirely.
 
“Intel’s cowardice is yet another predictable consequence of economic reliance on China,” Rubio said. “Instead of humiliating apologies and self-censorship, companies should move their supply chains to countries that do not use slave labor or commit genocide. If companies like Intel continue to obscure the facts about U.S. law just to appease the Chinese Communist Party then they should be ineligible for any funding under the CHIPS Act.”
 
Rubio supported the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act, which authorized grants to entities like Intel Corporation for the production of semiconductor facilities in order to compete with China, among other goals, and became law as part of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act.