Apple is not Apple Inc. in China, it is Apple Computer Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. SuperMicro will have its own subsidiary/subcontractors to handle their operations in China.
As having worked for a subsidiary of a large multinational company in China, I can tell you that a lot goes on that you might find surprising. Middle management and those involved with establishing the deals with subcontractors would often have arrangements to make money through various means, such as through IP transfer or property theft. The subcontractors themselves are Chinese companies.
At our place a lot of shady things were going on and were, thankfully, found after a number of years. The global HQ had to step in and fire around 1/3 of employees working at the China branch.
Now, there is no reason to suggest that this was related to any government policy or request. But it should be clear by now that the CPC are not exactly opposed to shady things happening to foreign companies. My point is that this is an an environment where something like this can happen quite easily, especially when a lot of technology companies have close ties to the state.
As having worked for a subsidiary of a large multinational company in China, I can tell you that a lot goes on that you might find surprising. Middle management and those involved with establishing the deals with subcontractors would often have arrangements to make money through various means, such as through IP transfer or property theft. The subcontractors themselves are Chinese companies.
At our place a lot of shady things were going on and were, thankfully, found after a number of years. The global HQ had to step in and fire around 1/3 of employees working at the China branch.
Now, there is no reason to suggest that this was related to any government policy or request. But it should be clear by now that the CPC are not exactly opposed to shady things happening to foreign companies. My point is that this is an an environment where something like this can happen quite easily, especially when a lot of technology companies have close ties to the state.