US Chipmakers Say They’re Improving Their Ability to Review Products Found in Russian Arms

U.S. computing chip manufacturers told a congressional panel this week that they’re increasing their scrutiny of products that have ended up in Russian weapons used in Ukraine.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, “we’ve had a regular cadence of trace requests,” which involves scrutinizing photographs of chips recovered from Russian arms and researching manufacturing dates, shipment information and other data, said Tiffany Scurry, corporate vice president and chief compliance officer at Advanced Micro Devices. The company has received “dozens and dozens of trace requests” and has responded to all of them except when a chip's identifying information was covered up or scratched out.

Although those reviews have found no chips designed or produced after the invasion, the company “thought it might be more helpful” to examine the parts in person and perhaps test them, and it is exploring that possibility. “That has been complicated because of jurisdiction, but it looks like we’re making progress and now at the point where we’ll be able to have access to the devices,” she said.

Scurry, who appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, testified that her company was scheduled to discuss the matter by phone with representatives from the Commerce and State cepartments and an institute affiliated with Ukraine’s armed forces on Sept. 11. The parties were expected to talk about the possibility of chip testing, “whether that happens on the ground in Ukraine or maybe in an embassy in another country. We’ve also been invited, I believe sometime later in September, to visit an embassy in another country to view the chips.”

Michelle Stout, vice president for global trade compliance and government affairs at Analog Devices; Jeff Rittener, chief trade officer and vice president of the international trade group at Intel Corp.; and Shannon Thompson, vice president and assistant general counsel for commercial operations at Texas Instruments, all testified that their companies are working with nonprofit organizations to improve their ability to fulfill trace requests.

"Since we began talking with [UK-based weapons-tracking organization Conflict Armament Research] in February, we have been having very active and productive conversations," Thompson said. "We have been trying to be as responsive as we can. You have to work through some confidentiality considerations because the tracing involves customer information because these parts touch many different potential customers as they are sold and re-sold multiple times."

Although all four witnesses said they were unaware of any chips made after the invasion finding their way into Russian weapons, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who chairs the subcommittee, said he’s skeptical that all the arms Russia is using against Ukraine contain old chips.

To say "that the most modern, lethal weapons slaughtering Ukrainians are being made with 16-year-old chips [is] hard to believe,” Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal's subcommittee has held two hearings on the flow of chips to Russia's industrial base, and he has pledged to continue investigating the matter (see 2409100069).