US Senator Urges Tighter Controls as Russian Military Devices Found with U.S. Chips

to US Senator Richard Blumenthal
to US Senator Richard Blumenthal. Credit | Getty images

United States: US semiconductor manufacturing plants should do more to stop the chips from being illegally bought and redirected to military devices by the Russians, according to US Senator Richard Blumenthal at the hearing that took place on Tuesday.

Blumenthal’s comments follow recent reports that discover U.S.-origin chips as well as other technologies in a whole lot of types of the Russian equipment on the ground in Ukraine, a wide range of which include drones and radios to missiles and armored vehicles, as reported by Reuters.

Impact on US Producers

They were directly meant for US producers or developers such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), Texas Instruments (TXN.O), and Analog Devices (ADI.O), who were denied their products as they allegedly came into Russians’ used equipment or entirely flowing to Russia despite US export controls.

These companies will “have the capacity to trace and track those components well enough to do something more,” Sen. Blumenthal, chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, remarked at the hearing to see how American semiconductor makers are conforming with the export controls imposed from Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

The subcommittee is already in the process of obtaining the media and documents from the four chipmakers. Data collected implies significant escalation following 2021 with the potential possibility of Russian traders to go through the channels avoided in control, according to the committee majority staff memo.

Three witnesses providing testimony at the hearing told a story of how their entities had tracked Russian weaponry with US chips and hardware.

“Russia acquires chips using third-country distributors which can be identified,” said Damien Spleeters of Conflict Armament Research, a UK-based organization which found U.S.-origin parts in Russian weapons.

According to Elina Ribakova of the Kyiv School of Economics, the majority of these components tend to be produced in China, Malaysia, and the Philippines and reach Russia via Turkey, UAE, or the closest-border countries.

In the eyes of Senator Ron Johnson – the leading member of the subcommittee- sanctions were always to be evaded. “You plug one hole, another hole is going to be opening up,” he said.

Semiconductor Companies’ Responses

Intel indicated in its contract that it expects customers and distributors to meet regulations and works to follow and prevent issues that distributors might have, as reported by Reuters.

AMD states it “welcomes strengthening public/private partnerships to combat illicit product diversion.” It said that it works with international customs and other parties to halt unauthorized shipments and takes action when AMD products are being diverted, as reported by Reuters.

“Significant time and resources” are invested, according to Texas Instruments, to keep its chips “out of the hands of bad actors.”

Requests for comment from Analog Devices were not immediately answered, but the company announced last week that it was assisting the Senate panel.