What you should know
According to a fresh allegation, Intel and AMD have halted sales of industrial processors to Russia.
In reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the corporations would obey new OFAC and BIS rules on exporting technology to Russia.
Consumer electronics would be exempt from the prohibition.
According to reports, TSMC, which manufactures Russian-designed semiconductors, conforms with new export control restrictions against Russia.
According to a fresh RBC story, Intel and AMD have “verbally told Russian manufacturers” that they are following a restriction on the supply of CPUs to Russia in retaliation to its invasion of Ukraine.
The restriction on technology and exports is expected to go into effect on March 3, while RBC reports that Intel and AMD have already ceased deliveries.
Furthermore, Intel’s local office informed partners in China of the ban on processor delivery to Russia, according to RBC.
The information is consistent with recent sanctions issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury (OFAC). RBC relied on two sources in the IT industry for its article, but corroborated the news with a “representative of the Association of Russian Developers and Electronics Manufacturers (ARPE).”
According to an Intel spokesman in Russia, “the company is closely monitoring the situation and maintaining compliance with applicable restrictions and export control regulations, including new sanctions imposed by OFAC and rules published by the BIS.” The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is a division of the United States Department of Commerce.
However, even if the report is correct, it is crucial to note that Intel and AMD’s prohibition on-chip exports to Russia does not apply to “consumer communication devices,” which include personal computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, and other gadgets.
Instead, the ban on the importation and sale of processors applies only to industrial use by private companies, government entities, or those expressly authorized by the US government, “including the president, prime minister, deputy prime ministers, federal ministers, State Duma deputies and members of the Federation Council, editors-in-chief and deputy editors-in-chief of state media.”
The restriction may have a long-term negative impact on Russia’s economy since businesses will be unable to upgrade, replace, or expand server usage for cloud computing and data storage. The same is true for the usage of “supercomputers” for large-scale data processing.
Exceptions may be permitted if companies apply for and are granted export licenses, however, this procedure may take months or longer.
NVIDIA, one of the world’s largest and most important producers of GPUs for services, AI, and industrial applications, has yet to comment on the new restrictions issued by the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). Similar calls for Microsoft to prohibit software exports to Russia have been made, but the corporation has yet to respond.
