ATLANTA,None — Congressional leaders want help from a Roswell company to stop counterfeit microchips from getting into crucial American military equipment.
Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland learned of World Micro Components' involvement in a federal investigation and now the issue of counterfeit chips is now getting national attention thanks to a presidential candidate.
"They've dumped counterfeit computer chips here in the United States. We're using some of those counterfeit chips in the Pentagon in some of our weapons systems. This has national security implications," said Rep. Michelle Bachmann during Wednesday night's televised republican Presidential candidate debate. Bachmann was referring to China's involvement and alleged complicity in the counterfeiting of military components.
"To hear that it's getting this level of attention and in my opinion, finally, is exciting and invigorating," said World Micro quality director Gary Beckstedt.
Beckstedt revealed the company had already provided intelligence to a Senate committee investigating the threat of fake chips.
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"World Micro has been actively assisting and supplying information to the Senate Armed Services Committee on this issue for a while now," he said.
The company is pushing for a screening process for suppliers and the parts they sell.
Beckstedt and Strickland combed through a giant box of parts rejected by technicians in the company's quality assurance lab. The 500 pounds of parts could not be authenticated so they were scrapped as suspected frauds.
"Oh, that's a classic," said Beckstedt as Strickland pulled a chip from the box. It had two different manufacture dates. Beckstedt says that's an immediate red flag.
Beckstedt said the Pentagon still uses suppliers who would have missed it, or knowingly sold it, fake or not.
"The government needs to mandate that only certain certified suppliers who have demonstrated capability and expertise should be able to provide this equipment into the supply chain," he said.
WSBTV
