Russian military industry continues to source with semiconductors from American companies, according to the Bloomberg agency.
The Kremlin manages to procure American components such as microchips and processors by ordering from the online store of Texas Instruments (TI) - TI Store.
Documents obtained by Bloomberg make it possible to trace the chain that connects Silicon Valley through front companies to Moscow without the knowledge of Texas Instruments, which makes possible the production of drones, floating bombs, communication systems and missiles "Iskander" , used to bomb Ukraine.
TI chips found in Russian "Dagger" missiles and the "Lancet-3" strike drones. Since the start of the full-scale war, Ukrainian investigators have found more than 4,000 Western components in Russian weapons, with Texas Instruments accounting for 14% of the total.
In September, the US Senate released an investigation into how "American technology continues to find its way into Russian munitions".
TI was criticized for "lack of control" on its online sales, and the Biden administration has warned chip makers to do more to prevent the Russian military from getting their hands on their technology.
According to the documents seen by the Bloomberg agency, the orders are placed from Moscow or St. Petersburg and delivered by companies located outside Russia: intermediaries based in Hong Kong are Sure Technology, Chipower Electronics and Horseway Techn. The goods are mainly supplied by two companies: Sea Global SCM and Aeroflot.