“Back doors” in taps? US Congress assesses ABB’s relations with China “Now it is important that the noble goals do not remain only on paper”

The US Congress is reviewing ABB’s activities in China. The group confirmed a corresponding report from Bloomberg on Friday at the request of the AWP news agency.

The Electrification and Automation Technology Group specifically acknowledged receipt of a letter from the “Committee on Homeland Security of the United States House of Representatives” and the “Special Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Communist Party of China.”

“We are reviewing the letter and intend to provide an appropriate response and we are taking this matter very seriously,” the company said when asked. ABB has been working with the committees since July 2023 to carefully answer their questions, a spokesperson said. “We are operating in compliance with all relevant U.S. regulations and have responded in a timely manner.”

In concrete terms, according to ABB, this concerns cranes. ABB provides standardized electrical and automation software and hardware for cranes used in ports around the world, including in the US. ABB’s crane software technology is vendor-agnostic and is installed on cranes manufactured by major crane manufacturers, including Chinese companies.

Data supplied to the Chinese government?

However, as an analyst from Bank Vontobel now writes, according to the ‘Special Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party’, so-called ‘backdoors’ are suspected in ABB’s software. These could be used to collect cargo handling data and provide it to the Chinese government, or even to paralyze civilian or military ports in the United States.

According to the analyst, 80 percent of all port cranes in the US are supplied by exactly one Chinese company called ZPMC, to which ABB supplies its automation software.

The topic was started by the Swedish radio station “Sverige Radio”. According to Bloomberg, he initially reported on an investigation related to possible espionage and security threats. China is ABB’s second largest market.

News of the investigation put ABB shares under heavy pressure on Friday. ABB shares lost 3.2 percent until shortly after midday, making them clearly the worst performers in the SMI. (sda/awp)