American based multinational corporation and tech firm, Intel is now the latest company to suspend their business and operations in Russia due to their invasion into Ukrainian territory. The chip making company now joins a whole host of companies such as Apple, Mercedes, H&M, and Master Card that have withdrawn from the Russian economy.
Last month, the company put an end to their shipments to Russia and neighbouring country, Belarus. The firm’s representatives announced that they have been slowly phasing out of the country instead of yanking the plug to make the withdrawal as smooth as possible for all parties involved.
Belarus is an active and vocal ally to Russia. When the world cut off Russia, Belarus offered soldiers, food and resources, medical equipment and even sensitive data to their embargoed ally. Belarus even allowed Russian troops to enter Belarusian soil so that they could invade Ukraine from the north. International outrage did not spark as heavily as it did for Russia and many companies that exited the Russian economy still have operations set up in its neighbour, Belarus.
The company’s spokesperson also said that Intel will also stick with the international community and foster growth and synergy within the company hopes for a quick withdrawal of troops from Ukrainian territory.
International Machine Business Corporation (IBM), an American based companies that produces hardware, software and other cloud computing services also recently took their operations out of Russia. Both Intel and IBM, although separate entities with different sets of owners, investors and board members, have a lot of business together and they partner each other for various projects around the world.
Once IBM quit the Russian economy, it was only a matter of time until Intel followed their ally’s steps too. But Intel have done it in such a way to minimize as much confusion as possible and to make smooth for everyone involved.
According to many experts, the mass exodus of tech companies leaving Russia will be the final straw for the government as their economy is already tattered ever since the military intervention. Most of the technology, chips, data storage systems, were all invented and innovated by Western countries like the USA, UK, and Germany. These products and services are in turn exported to Russia. Tech and data are vital when it comes to running any organization, firm and even a country and without the state-of-the-art resources, you are bound to be left behind in the race for economic and diplomatic growth. Hopefully this decision puts more pressure on the Russian government and Putin.