Western Components Are Flowing Into Russia in Huge Volumes, Killing Innocent Ukrainians, Says Bloomberg

According to Bloomberg’s investigation, Democratic staff of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a critical report stating that US semiconductor manufacturers have been “abjectly lacking” in their efforts to track the destinations of their products. The investigation focused on four American companies—Analog, Texas Instruments, Intel, and Advanced Micro Devices—whose components have been discovered in Russian missiles employed in attacks on Ukraine.

Inside the Iskander missile that killed 7 people and injured 214 in Russia’s strike on Chernihiv on August 19, 2023, was a MAX2769 GPS receiver, manufactured by Maxim Integrated, a subsidiary of Analog. This dual-use semiconductor, utilized for both civilian and military applications, enables location services in devices ranging from cars and laptops to marine navigation systems. The receiver converts signals from satellites into location coordinates, helping missiles accurately find their targets.

Bloomberg reports that Analog’s GPS receivers are inexpensive and widely available, primarily produced in the company’s factories in China and other parts of Asia. Notably, these receivers can operate on both US-controlled GPS and Russia’s Glonass satellite navigation system, making them particularly appealing to the Russian military. Due to difficulties in producing chips capable of receiving encrypted signals exclusively from Glonass satellites, Russia relies on components that are compatible with GPS as well.

In Bloomberg’s article, Chief of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, emphasizes that halting the Kremlin's targeting capabilities hinges on cutting off the flow of semiconductors to Russia. He notes, “Everybody’s averting their eyes from what’s going on.”

“If you open up any of these missiles or drones, you’ll see for yourself that they are full of Western components,” says Budanov. “Companies can say that they’re not selling anything to Russia, that they’re just selling to some intermediaries. But it doesn’t change the fact that those parts are getting into Russia in huge volumes.”

While not all components have clear production dates, the Iskander’s receiver lacked any identifiable markings indicating its manufacture. However, ImportGenius data reveals that Russia imported at least 14,500 shipments of Maxim electronic integrated circuits during the first two years of the conflict, suggesting a steady supply. Most of these imports came from intermediaries in China and Hong Kong, with some arriving in Russia via the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, and Turkey.

Efforts to curb the activities of these middlemen often resemble a cat-and-mouse game, says Bloomberg. Whenever one company is blacklisted, others quickly emerge to take its place, frequently adopting similar names. For instance, a Russian company in St. Petersburg called Elekate imported $3,560 worth of Maxim circuit chips—primarily sourced from Southeast Asia—between April and July 2022. This data, from the Kyiv School of Economics, indicates that Elekate sourced its chips from a company named Sunny Technology Co., which sent nearly 60 shipments of Analog components to Russia in 2022. Elekate did not respond to an email requesting comment.