Editorial
According to the Times, national security concerns are arising in England following a multimillion-dollar deal with a Chinese company to supply a supercomputer to a British government body.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of the agency UK Research and Innovation, has announced that it will install a Lenovo supercomputer at its site in Hartree, Cheshire. The operation will cost £30 million. The STFC said the Lenovo supercomputer will give industry access to cutting-edge digital technologies and will also be used by large companies such as Unilever and Rolls-Royce, as well as the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
The decision was taken even though the British deputy prime minister reported in Parliament that Chinese state bodies had hacked the computers of the Electoral Commission and the accounts of some parliamentarians.
According to experts, awarding the contract to a company linked to Beijing for such a large and complex digital infrastructure project is not the best way to preserve national security. Many wonder what the UK could be like leader in sensitive fields such as artificial intelligence and nuclear research if the devices are supplied by a Chinese company. Lenovo has already been under investigation in the US and UK. Some politicians have, therefore, asked the government to carefully evaluate the security risks arising from this agreement.
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