Russia continues to purchase American microchips, which can be used for military and intelligence purposes, writes the Russian publication The Insider.
It is reported that Russia continues to receive 'unique microchips indispensable for missile and drone navigation, internet content filtering, and facial recognition.'
These are programmable logic integrated circuits (PLCs) produced by American companies Intel and AMD.
Their export to Russia without a proper license was banned as early as 2020, and after the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, an embargo was imposed on the supply of any microchips to Russia. According to the law, the manufacturing companies are required to check who their end users are, but this requirement is often ignored.
Judging by customs data, AMD and Intel have long turned a blind eye to the export of Xilinx (an AMD brand) and Altera (an Intel brand) microchips to Russia, which do not have civilian applications.
Transactions by Russian buyers with numerous intermediary firms that should not have the right to resell these microchips to Russia suggest that instead of direct control over the end user, the manufacturing companies might have been receiving worthless paperwork at best.
Since PLCs are not produced in Russia, the country is forced to buy them abroad. The supplies are handled not by companies linked to the military-industrial complex, but by ordinary distribution companies. Over the past 2 years of full-scale war, similar microchips worth at least $336 million have been imported into Russia.
It should be noted that in 2022, Intel and AMD announced their exit from Russia due to the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, and the US government imposed a complete ban on the supply of microchips to Russia.
