It is hard to believe that someone at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) did not know about the connection between Congo and its mineral resources. Those minerals have been a curse for millions of Congolese. Millions have died because of those minerals used to manufacture AMD chips.
AMD, Congo, and the perils of code names | Business Tech - CNET News.
When Advanced Micro Devices came up with the name of "Congo" for its new dual-core chip targeting ultra-thin devices executives were thinking of the river in Africa, following the company's practice of naming mobile projects after rivers.
But some bloggers who monitor humanitarian crises and conflicts in Africa blasted the chipmaker for using a the name of a country where civilians are dying and brutalized in a conflict over natural resources like tin, tungsten, and coltan that end up in electronics equipment like computers and mobile phones.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is "the place where trade in minerals vital to technology like ultra-thin laptops is fueling the deadliest conflict in the world," writes David Sullivan on his Enough blog.
The site has named the African country the most dangerous place in the world to be a female because of the epidemic of sexual violence that has been going on there for years.
A post on the Congo Resources blog says: "Nicknaming their product after the Congo--well, that takes chutzpah."