Defect rate of Chinese chips shipped to Russia surged to 40 per cent after Western sanctions, local newspaper says
- Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the defect rate was just 2 per cent, business newspaper Kommersant reported, citing an anonymous source
- Chinese chip exports to Russia have ‘grown dramatically’ this year, according to Merics, aided by repackaging companies without exposure to Western markets
The defect rate of China’s semiconductor exports to Russia surged after the country invaded Ukraine in March, when Western sanctions forced Russian companies to source electronics from new suppliers, according to the local news outlet Kommersant.
Since the unprecedented wave of sanctions on Russia, 40 per cent of chips imported from China have been defective, while the rate before March was just 2 per cent, Kommersant reported, citing an anonymous source. The report did not name any Chinese suppliers.
Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade told Kommersant that it had not received any information about an increase in defective shipments.
Kommersant attributed the surge of defects to Western sanctions imposed on Russia, which cut off many importers’ access to foreign distributors using US machinery, software or blueprints – all critical to making the most advanced chips on the market. This reportedly led companies to procure components from unauthorised suppliers peddling products of subpar quality.
Out of 238 companies identified by Yale University’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute (CELI) as still operating in Russia, China has the most at 41, followed by the US with 27.