Purely speculatively, I find it interesting that: - The described timeframe for the transition to update-able microcode corresponds roughly with my vague memor

Purely speculatively, I find it interesting that: - The described timeframe for the transition to update-able microcode corresponds roughly with my vague memory of when the U.S. government started to give up (in practice, if not on paper) on "keeping the lid on" strong cryptography in the commercial and microcomputer worlds. - We read that Lenovo is "untrusted". Are they piggybacking on such a feature -- which I've little doubt their more competent scientists and researchers would have thoroughly explored -- trace by trace, if and as necessary? If so, are Lenovo products then untrusted because a Chinese firm has control over their update process -- via BIOS or however else? In other words, did... "Western" agencies provide part or all of the mechanism by which the Chinese are now supposedly compromising Lenovo PC's? ---- P.S. I'm now further put in mind of all the industrial et al. espionage that is now fairly well attributed to the Chinese government and agencies. Were details of this functionality one or more of the prizes they obtained?