It's hard to tell from that pic, but it might not even be TIM. It could be a drop of resin or a smear of adhesive, just a bit of ugly sloppiness at the assembly plant. All sorts of strange plasticky chemicals get used when working with PCBs.
Even if it is a TIM, it could easily be an extra drip from a messy worker. I wouldn't even suspect it somehow leaked off an important component (because such leakage is near impossible) unless actual temps measured under performance seem unacceptable.
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[/Korth]
