The recent news that the US government's committee on foreign investment will review IBM's sale of its personal computer business to China's Lenovo reflects the growing difficulty of defining “techno-security” in an age of globalisation. It was only a few years ago that similar fears were expressed about Japanese business activities that affected the US electronics and aerospace industries. However, it was soon realised that the involvement of companies such as Mitsubishi in projects as strategically important as the development of the Boeing 777 was good for America in many ways. While there were some job losses in the aerospace industry, Boeing's ability to harness Japanese expertise in advanced composite materials allowed it to produce a state-of-the-art aircraft.