According to the US Senate Armed Services Comittee, faulty counterfeit electronic parts are ending up in the Defense Department's weapons systems. Senators Carl Levin and John McCain said "Counterfeit electronic parts pose a risk to our national security, the reliability of our weapons systems and the safety of our military men and women. "The proliferation of counterfeit goods also damages our economy and costs American jobs." They have announced an investigation into how counterfeit components are ending up in the supply chain.
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is the counterfeit problem only present in the US?
ReplyDeleteNo, unfortunately it can happen in any country where electronic products are used. The biggest source of counterfeit components is currently Asia, but there are distributors from many countries either knowingly or not, responsible for importing counterfeit components into US and Western Europe.
ReplyDeletewhy don't we hear more about it in the European press then?
ReplyDeleteWell reports can be found in the press. But a lot of the time the companies affected by counterfeit components may not know that a misbehaving/or non functioning product is due to a counterfeit component. Also many companies do not want to publicise that they have discovered counterfeit components in their supply chain, as this could mean losing business from worried customers.
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