Taiwanese electronics giant GIGABYTE recently published a controversial post on its website that suggested it was better than its competitors because it didn’t outsource any production to “low-cost, low-quality” Chinese manufacturers. That wasn’t the brightest idea, as Chinese social media and e-commerce operators such as JD.com Inc. and Suning.com Co. quickly retaliated by removing GIGABYTE’s products from their stores, prompting company shares to tank by around 10 percent ($550 million). GIGABYTE has removed its original post and published an apology stating that it’s actually proud of products that are made in China.
The remarks sparked an outcry on Chinese social media and prompted e-commerce operators like JD.com Inc. and Suning.com Co. to remove product listings of the firm. Searches for “Gigabyte” or “Jijia”, its Chinese brand name, on the platforms returned no results as of Wednesday morning. Gigabyte has since removed the original post and published an apology on Tuesday, saying that the earlier statement was “seriously inconsistent with the facts” and that it’s proud of the quality of “Made in China” products.