Intel and AMD would have stopped supplying chips to Russia. In the last hours, indications have accumulated that both technological multinationals have suspended component shipments to the Russian Federation, thus complying with the sanctions imposed from the United States for the invasion of Ukraine.
Other news indicates that TSMC has also decided to join this initiative, which in practice means stopping Russia’s ability to supply key electronic components both in the military area and in any other industrial area of the Eurasian country.
In a brief statement, Intel has explained that the company “complies with all applicable export regulations and sanctions in the countries in which it operates, including the new sanctions issued by OFAC [Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros] and the regulations issued by the BIS [Oficina de Industria y Seguridad]» which would tacitly confirm the suspension of shipments; AMD and Nvidia at the moment have not made a public statement in this regard.
However, we have more clues if we pay attention to the news published by Russian media specialized in IT. In this sense, publications such as RBC assure that the suspensions have been confirmed by the Association of Russian Electronics Developers and Manufacturers (ARPE). At the same time, Chinese technology companies that sell servers equipped with processors of these brands have reportedly been warned that they cannot deliver their products to Russia.
There is however much confusion about how far the impact of these sanctions extends into the IT supply chain. Recent restrictions on the export of key components apply in principle to chips primarily intended for the military industry, or those that could have a dual use, both civil and military.
This would imply that in principle, most consumer-oriented chips, such as AMD’s Ryzen or Intel’s Core line, should not be directly affected. Despite this, and while both manufacturers decide which lines of business can continue to operate normally in Russia and which others should cease to do so, the shipment of new processors would have been completely suspended temporarily.
The only exceptions would be found in the supply of components necessary to guarantee the security of civil flights, maritime security, the humanitarian needs that may arise from this armed conflict, the Russian-American cooperation in the different space exploration programs and the that serve to maintain the commercial activity of the Russian subsidiaries of the various Western corporations.
There are numerous Russian strategic companies and multinationals that depend on Intel and AMD processors for their proper functioning, including some as important as Yandex, or the supercomputers that rule the world. Sberbankthe largest bank in the country and whose European subsidiary (Sberbank Europe AG) is about to declare bankruptcy due to the deterioration of its liquidity position.
For most of the companies in the country governed by Vladimir Putin, a period of great uncertainty is now opening. Those that have not been sanctioned directly and that in the medium term can acquire authorized electronic material, may have to launch individualized requests for the import and export of components, which could take more than six months.
