Gigabyte Apologizes for 'Made in China' Comment After Losing $550 Million

Gigabyte logo
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Gigabyte has apologized for a comment it made about Chinese manufacturing that prompted social media outrage, led several marketplaces to remove its products from their platforms, and caused a $550 million drop in its market value.

According to Bloomberg, the company published a blog post on Monday slamming its competitors for outsourcing production to Chinese manufacturers that make products in a "low-cost, low quality way." (The blog post has since been deleted.)

That comment was seen as an indictment of Chinese manufacturing writ large instead of a targeted criticism of Gigabyte's rivals— which is what prompted the removal of its products from the JD.com and Suning.com e-commerce platforms.

The market's response was also swift. Gigabyte's share price had fallen by nearly 10% when the market closed in Taipei, according to Yahoo Finance, which means its market value has dropped by about $550 million since the blog post's publication.

All of which led Gigabyte to publish an apology for that blog post.

"A few days ago, part of the text content published on our official website is seriously inconsistent with the facts," Gigabyte said, per Google Translate. "It is caused by poor internal management of the company. We sincerely apologize for the discomfort caused to you."

The company also said it will "strengthen internal management and training to ensure that all employees are aware of the problem and pay attention to it."

It's hard to imagine such a strict response to a single blog post, but it's also hard to accept that a throwaway comment about the quality of its competitors' products led Gigabyte's market value to plummet by over half a billion dollars, so we'll call it even.

Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

  • thepersonwithaface45
    By "low cost, low quality way" did they really mean inhumane? :oops:
    Reply
  • Co BIY
    Seems like a chance to buy the stock at a discount.

    The Chicom overreaction is typical bullying. How about a factual refutation of the claim ?
    Reply
  • AtrociKitty
    Gigabyte shouldn't have apologized.
    Reply
  • carocuore
    "It is caused by poor internal management of the company. We sincerely apologize for the discomfort caused to you."

    Yup, whoever wrote that is now enjoying permanent vacations on a nice labor camp.
    Reply
  • Krotow
    Who would say... Gigabyte should remember about PSU quality where they are slapping their name.

    https://www.techpowerup.com/review/gigabyte-gp-p750gm-750-w/12.html
    Reply
  • Giroro
    You know, the Chinese government is pretty good at manufacturing "social media outrage". They're also pretty good at manipulating advertising algorithms to ensure that pro-China fluff is profitable, and anti-China news gets buried.
    It turns out you can pretty easily direct traffic and generate a lot of clicks when you have complete government control over the media and internet access of 1.4 billion people.
    Reply
  • thepersonwithaface45
    Giroro said:
    You know, the Chinese government is pretty good at manufacturing "social media outrage". They're also pretty good at manipulating advertising algorithms to ensure that pro-China fluff is profitable, and anti-China news gets buried.
    It turns out you can pretty easily direct traffic and generate a lot of clicks when you have complete government control over the media and internet access of 1.4 billion people.
    Feelin' like it's the otherway around in the US :censored:
    Reply
  • hallby81
    Co BIY said:
    Seems like a chance to buy the stock at a discount.

    The Chicom overreaction is typical bullying. How about a factual refutation of the claim ?
    There will never be "facts" when the narrative is controlled by the CCP. There is only the message.
    Reply
  • truerock
    I can't think of any products made in China where I would not think the Taiwanese version was of higher quality.

    In my opinion, Chinese products are inferior to those made in many other countries.

    But, the quality of Chinese products have vastly improved over the last several decades. Maybe someday we will consider Chinese products to be of high quality?
    Reply
  • Krotow
    truerock said:
    But, the quality of Chinese products have vastly improved over the last several decades. Maybe someday we will consider Chinese products to be of high quality?

    Perhaps. It is the same way that Japan did - watched, learned, copied and made better. If Chinese in general will throw away stupid habit to con their customers and cut corners where it is bad to do, they eventually will turn out as good product makers in mass. I will not get offended if they will ask adequate price for their products then.
    Reply