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Suppliers of Russia’s military-industrial complex exploited a loophole to order microchips from the American company Texas Instruments (TI) despite international sanctions, Bloomberg reported.
According to the investigation, some Russian distributors integrated information from Texas Instruments’ online store (TI Store) into their platforms. This allowed Russian clients to access semiconductor stock data and prices, place orders, and have them fulfilled via companies outside of Russia.
The orders were mainly processed through websites like getchips.ru and altchips.ru, blocked in the U.S. and Europe but still accessible in Russia. These platforms mirrored the product information available on TI’s official online store.
Bloomberg suggests that Russian distributors gained access to TI’s Application Programming Interface (API), enabling seamless integration of data and communication between systems.
One major Russian distributor processed over 4,000 orders for hundreds of thousands of TI products worth around $6 million between August 2023 and August 2024. Approximately $4 million of these orders were intended for Russian military companies. Before reaching Russia, the goods were routed through intermediaries in Hong Kong or other countries.
Among thousands of orders reviewed by Bloomberg, 287 were marked as “canceled,” indicating logistical failures or changes in client needs. The distributor added a 40% markup to TI prices to cover delivery and payment processing.
This scheme reflects ongoing challenges in enforcing sanctions. Independent Russian media previously reported continued imports of Western technological products, including those from Texas Instruments, even after the introduction of sanctions in mid-2023.
Read also: EU Needs ‘Big Bang’ in Defense Policy to Counter Russia, Says Commissioner Kubilius
