How US Tech Firms Enabled China’s Digital Police State in 2025.

In a revealing 2025 investigation, the Associated Press exposed how major U.S. technology companies played a critical role in enabling China’s vast digital surveillance apparatus—used to monitor, control, and detain millions, particularly in regions like Xinjiang and Tibet. Companies like IBM, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, and Thermo Fisher provided the backbone for China’s AI surveillance infrastructure. These firms sold or licensed facial recognition software, cloud computing platforms, DNA testing tools, and predictive policing algorithms—many of which were later used to target ethnic minorities such as Uyghurs and Tibetans.

The technologies were integrated into China’s domestic security systems, including the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP)—a tool that flagged citizens for arbitrary detention based on behaviors like traveling abroad, using too much electricity, or simply growing a beard.

Even after global outcry in the late 2010s, U.S.-sourced technology continued to power these systems. The AP’s investigation, based on leaked documents, marketing materials, and procurement records, shows that American innovation was central to the development and expansion of China’s surveillance state. Now, as China exports this model to other authoritarian regimes, the legacy of U.S. tech involvement raises urgent questions about global responsibility, ethics, and the unchecked export of surveillance technology.