Russians exploit loophole to purchase US microchips despite sanctions – Bloomberg

Suppliers of Russia’s defence industrial base have exploited a loophole to place orders for microchips from the US company Texas Instruments (TI) despite the sanctions.

Source: Bloomberg; European Pravda

Details: Bloomberg revealed that certain Russian distributors have integrated information from Texas Instruments’ online store, TI Store, into their trading platforms.

This integration allows Russian customers to view details about semiconductor stock availability and prices. They then place orders, which are fulfilled and delivered through companies located outside Russia, the report states.

Most of these orders were processed via websites like getchips.ru and altchips.ru, which are blocked in the US and Europe but remain accessible in Russia. The product listings on these sites match those available to customers through Texas Instruments' official online store.

Sources cited by Bloomberg suggest that Russian distributors may have gained access to the company's proprietary application programming interface (API), a technical tool that enables software to communicate and exchange data.

For example, one major Russian distributor processed over 4,000 orders for hundreds of thousands of TI products, valued at approximately US$6 million, between August 2023 and August 2024. Of these, nearly US$4 million worth of orders were intended for Russian military companies. Before reaching Russia, the products were routed through Hong Kong or other countries.

Bloomberg discovered 287 orders labeled as "cancelled" in internal Russian documents, indicating that some clients either changed their minds or the distributor was unable to fulfill these orders.

Russian distributors reportedly applied a 40% markup to TI prices to cover the costs of delivery and payment, Bloomberg sources indicated.

Background: Independent Russian media previously confirmed in mid-2022 that the import of Western technology products, including those from Texas Instruments, continued into Russia despite sanctions.

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