Intel and AMD reportedly pull chip sales to Russia

Both Intel and AMD have reportedly suspended chip sales to Russia due to the US government’s new export restrictions on semiconductor sales to the country following its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

According to multiple reports from Russian news outlets, the suspensions have been confirmed by the Association of Russian Developers and Electronic Manufacturers (ARPE) while IT companies in China have been notified by Intel that sales to the country have been banned.

These new export restrictions are mainly aimed at chips used for the military or dual-use chips that can be used by both civilians and the military which means that Intel CPUs and AMD CPUs are still available for Russian consumers. Still though, it’s likely there will be a temporary halt for all semiconductor sales to the country as companies decide which of their products and customers are impacted. 

In a statement to Tom’s Hardware, an Intel spokesperson explained that the company is complying with the US government’s new sanctions against Russia, saying:

“Intel complies with all applicable export regulations and sanctions in the countries in which it operates, including the new sanctions issued by OFAC [Office of Foreign Assets Control] and the regulations issued by BIS [Bureau of Industry and Security].”

Homegrown chips

While Intel and AMD have halted chip sales to Russia, it will still be hard for Russian companies to procure supplies from other sources as the US Department of Commerce has added 49 of the country’s businesses to its Entity List.

Unlike with the recent sanctions levied against Chinese tech giant Huawei, the new US export restrictions apply to all of Russia which is a first. However, the country has been preparing to deal with the possibility of sanctions since it invaded Crimea back in 2014. This is why Russia has been promoting its own homegrown semiconductor business while also stockpiling chips just in case.

Although Russian companies such as Baikal, MCST, Yadro and STC Module have begun designing their own chips, they are actually manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) which makes chips for Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, AMD, Mediatek, Broadcom and other large firms as well. Unfortunately for Russia, TSMC has also agreed to suspend sales to the country in order to comply with new export restrictions. As such, Russia’s supply of homegrown chips will likely be cut off as well.

Even with Intel and AMD suspending sales to Russia, the move shouldn’t have too big of an impact on either of their businesses as the Russian government accounts for less that 0.1% of global chip purchases and the overall Russian market accounts for around $50.3bn out of the $4.47tn global semiconductor market according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

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Via Tom’s Hardware