By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Senate panel will hold a hearing on Tuesday on the use of U.S. chips in Russian weapons systems, Senator Richard Blumenthal said in a statement on Wednesday.
The hearing by the Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations will address how Russia is evading export controls intended to block it from using U.S. technology in the war in Ukraine, added the office of the Democratic lawmaker, who chairs the panel.
The panel has sought information and documents from four large U.S. semiconductor makers – Advanced Micro Devices, Analog Devices, Intel, and Texas Instruments, it added.
Preliminary information obtained by the panel showed that since Russia invaded Ukraine almost two years ago, these four companies had “significantly increased” exports to countries identified as potentially being used by Russia to evade U.S. export controls, it said.
Advanced Micro Devices did not respond to a request for comment.
Texas Instruments said it was co-operating with the panel and was opposed to the use of its chips in Russian military equipment, saying it stopped selling products into Russia in February 2022.
Intel also said it suspended all shipments to customers in Russia and Belarus after the conflict began, that it abides by export regulations and sanctions, and that its contracts require customers and distributors to comply with the same regulations.
Analog Devices said it was co-operating with the Senate panel’s probe and did not support “the illicit diversion of its products to countries or entities subject to U.S. or international sanctions.”
American-made semiconductors have been found in a range of equipment used by the Russian military, Blumenthal’s office said, from drones and radios to missiles and armored vehicles.
The United States and its allies have imposed multiple sanctions on Moscow and export controls for those supporting Russia’s military and defense industries.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Clarence Fernandez)
