Drone firm raided over Chinese chips
By Hsu Yung-ching, Hsu Kuo-chen and Fion Khan / Staff reporters, with staff writer
Three government agencies had purchased a total of 32 drones made by or linked to Align Corp (亞拓科技), the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday, after the company’s director was detained for allegedly using Chinese-made chips in military drones.
The ministry said it would act in accordance with the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) and contractual provisions, adding that it would not rule out seeking compensation if any contraventions were found.
A preliminary review found that the National Park Service and Central Police University each purchased one drone manufactured by the company last year, the ministry said, adding that it would verify the details and handle the matter in accordance with procurement regulations.
Drones made by Align Corp are pictured among the fleet of the Changhua County Police Department’s drone unit in a photo taken in June.
Photo: Taipei Times
Separately, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) this year completed a public tender under the Government Procurement Act to purchase 30 drones from Suyuan Technology Co (速源科技) at a total cost of NT$2.75 million (US$84,673), the ministry said.
While Suyuan Technology had planned to supply the drones manufactured by Align, delivery has not yet taken place, it said.
The NIA would strictly enforce contractual requirements prohibiting the delivery of drones containing Chinese-made components, it said.
As government procurement standards mandate compliance with “non-red supply chain” requirements, the ministry would continue to strictly require government agencies and suppliers to follow the regulations in procurement processes, it said.
Compensation would be sought in accordance with contractual terms if contraventions were found, it added.
The ministry’s review came as the Taichung Prosecutors’ Office on Friday said that it raided Align Corp and the company’s director Tu Ta-sen (杜大森) was ordered detained and held incommunicado.
The company’s drones were purchased by the army for educational and training purposes, it said
To ensure the equipment met procurement specifications, the military conducted inspections that included dismantling the drones and discovered that chips inside the aircraft bore the letters “CN,” it said.
The procurement contracts explicitly prohibit the use of products from China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said.
The case was reported to prosecutors who found the same issue in another batch of drones purchased by the army.
Prosecutors searched locations connected to the company and summoned six people for questioning, including Tu and his wife, they said.
Investigators found that Tu allegedly used chips manufactured by Chinese companies in at least two batches of military drone procurement contracts and directed Align Corp to assemble the drones before delivering them to the military, they said.
The contracts were worth more than NT$8 million in total, they added.
Tu and others were suspected of misrepresenting the country of origin of products supplied under the contracts, they said.
They were suspected of contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), which prohibits the delivery of products for military procurement when the supplier knows they originate in China, and also face fraud charges under the Criminal Code, they said.
Align Corp, founded in 1984, is headquartered in Taichung’s Fengyuan District (豐原), the company’s Web site showed.
The company has long secured government contracts to supply drones to the military, police and fire departments.
The Changhua County Police Department, which established a drone unit in June, purchased two M490 drones and nine M3 drones from the company.
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