Intel Stops Buying Chip Supplies From War-Torn Africa

Intel says it will stop buying computer chip components from African militias.

No conflict inside.

Computer processor giant Intel has announced that it has rid its supply chain of raw materials -- for use in its chips -- gleaned from groups associated with rebels and militias in the Congo, according to reports.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the company took it upon itself to cleanse itself of "blood chips" to ensure that the company was "not unwittingly financing war crimes."

Some of the miners of the raw materials needed to make computer chips -- gold, tin, tungsten, and tantalum -- are associated with groups who commit "gross human rights abuses," the newspaper reported.

How was it done? Intel put together a plan with its smelters and other processors of the raw materials to figure out how to audit the supply chain.

In the end, making sure that computers didn't fund conflict was something the company had to "fix," said Gary Niekerk, the company's director of corporate citizenship.

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