US Sanctions Chinese Video Surveillance Firm Supplying Iran

NBC News reported Friday that Tiandy Technologies firm has used its facial recognition software to help Chinese authorities identify Uyghurs or other ethnic minorities. It has also provided Iran’s IRGC with the technology as well.

The Commerce Department sanctions against Tiandy restrict American firms from exporting components to the company.

The processors for Tiandy’s video recording systems were provided by California-based semiconductor giant Intel Corporation. However, Intel had removed references to Tiandy from its website before the decision was announced by the Biden administration, added NBC News.

Intel Corp. spokesperson Penny Bruce told NBC News Thursday that the company ceased doing business with the Chinese company “following an internal review.”

Tiandy is a private firm based in the northern city of Tianjin, which ranks among the top video surveillance companies in China and the world.

An industry survey says the annual sales revenue of Tiandy was more than $800 million in 2021, but it has branches in over 60 countries.

The Financial Times also wrote Thursday that Washington is set to put the chipmaker Yangtze Memory Technologies on a trade blacklist, in its latest efforts to target Chinese technology companies that it believes threaten the country’s security.

It comes two months after the Biden administration unveiled harsh export controls that made it more difficult for Beijing to acquire and produce advanced semiconductors.