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Beijing: A Taiwanese computer hardware maker has become the target of a boycott in mainland China after it called Chinese manufacturing as “low-quality” and even described its products as Taiwan-made.
In an advertisement for its latest laptop series that has since been taken down from its website, Gigabyte Technology, a Taipei-based manufacturer specialising in motherboards and graphical processing units (GPUs), said the company insists on making its products in Taiwan, where it boasted strict quality control, reports South China Morning Post.
The quality criticism is the latest provocation directed against the mainland arm of Taiwanese firms in a continuing anti-Chinese backlash over the summer, as ardently pro-China Chinese gathered thanks system and seized social media, leading to President Xi Jinping stepping in to mediate a diplomatic solution last week.
Within 24 hours of the advertisement going online on Wednesday, Gigabyte had received a deluge of emails penned by outraged Chinese, who meant to begin a campaign that had gained momentum on the mainland as Chinese companies browbeat Taiwanese partners. Gigabyte closed the business, writing a note on its website apologising for any offense.
About 200 or so anti-Gigabyte messages containing links to copies of the Meme circulated widely on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, in the hours following gigabyte's fake advertisement, the South China Morning Post said.
Read MoreWhy is the Chinese government clamping down on Internet slander?
Gigabyte shares, which have surged over 400 per cent in the past year on renewed strong demand for its products, plunged 6 per cent in Hong Kong on Friday, taking its decline since last July to over 30 per cent. About $12.37 million in market capitalisation had been wiped off the company's share price by the equivalent to 13 per cent.
Pascal Lam, a Beijing-based admissions consultant, said he got indignant-sounding phone calls from Chinese employers when they saw Gigabyte's advertisement on Wednesday.
"When they realised their employees thought they were being scammed, they contacted me," Lam said. "I explained the advertisements are a joke and Megahigs (a local slang term for manufacturers of low-quality smartphones) are stretching the truth."
'Low-quality'
SideBySide, an internal GPU firm built by Microchip Technology and co-owned by SCE, SK Hynix and TSMC, also criticized Chinese manufacturers in its advertisements this week, deploying the same A-word for its product lineup but taking it much further.
"China's so-called 'China-brand' says we're high-quality, we'll stick with low-quality products..." — Sales and marketing manager toggling between English and Chinese.
Sales and marketing manager toggling between English and Chinese, Miles Edwards', words showed nothing but disdain for Chinese manufacturers, in the workaround to a years-long toothless crackdown by the Chinese authorities on negative Internet posts, most and least visible in China this
Beijing: A Taiwanese computer hardware maker has become the target of a boycott in mainland China after it called Chinese manufacturing as “low-quality” and even described its products as Taiwan-made.
In an advertisement for its latest laptop series that has since been taken down from its website, Gigabyte Technology, a Taipei-based manufacturer specialising in motherboards and graphical processing units (GPUs), said the company insists on making its products in Taiwan, where it boasted strict quality control, reports South China Morning Post.
The quality criticism is the latest provocation directed against the mainland arm of Taiwanese firms in a continuing anti-Chinese backlash over the summer, as ardently pro-China Chinese gathered thanks system and seized social media, leading to President Xi Jinping stepping in to mediate a diplomatic solution last week.
Within 24 hours of the advertisement going online on Wednesday, Gigabyte had received a deluge of emails penned by outraged Chinese, who meant to begin a campaign that had gained momentum on the mainland as Chinese companies browbeat Taiwanese partners. Gigabyte closed the business, writing a note on its website apologising for any offense.
About 200 or so anti-Gigabyte messages containing links to copies of the Meme circulated widely on Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, in the hours following gigabyte's fake advertisement, the South China Morning Post said.
Read MoreWhy is the Chinese government clamping down on Internet slander?
Gigabyte shares, which have surged over 400 per cent in the past year on renewed strong demand for its products, plunged 6 per cent in Hong Kong on Friday, taking its decline since last July to over 30 per cent. About $12.37 million in market capitalisation had been wiped off the company's share price by the equivalent to 13 per cent.
Pascal Lam, a Beijing-based admissions consultant, said he got indignant-sounding phone calls from Chinese employers when they saw Gigabyte's advertisement on Wednesday.
"When they realised their employees thought they were being scammed, they contacted me," Lam said. "I explained the advertisements are a joke and Megahigs (a local slang term for manufacturers of low-quality smartphones) are stretching the truth."
'Low-quality'
SideBySide, an internal GPU firm built by Microchip Technology and co-owned by SCE, SK Hynix and TSMC, also criticized Chinese manufacturers in its advertisements this week, deploying the same A-word for its product lineup but taking it much further.
"China's so-called 'China-brand' says we're high-quality, we'll stick with low-quality products..." — Sales and marketing manager toggling between English and Chinese.
Sales and marketing manager toggling between English and Chinese, Miles Edwards', words showed nothing but disdain for Chinese manufacturers, in the workaround to a years-long toothless crackdown by the Chinese authorities on negative Internet posts, most and least visible in China this
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