Russia finds simple route to get U.S. chips for Iskanders, drones, and guided bombs

Bloomberg's investigation revealed the information.

Russia has reportedly established a supply chain of components from the American chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. without the company's knowledge.

“The purchasing process is surprisingly simple. Some Russian distributors have integrated information from Texas Instruments’ online shop, TI store, onto their sales platforms, allowing clients to see semiconductor inventory and pricing before they place requests, according to documents seen by Bloomberg and government officials familiar with the matter. From Moscow or St. Petersburg, they can buy TI components with a few mouse clicks, placing orders carried out and delivered through companies outside Russia,” the investigation said. 

In one case, a major Russian distributor purchased "hundreds of thousands of products" worth about $6 million in 2024, with nearly $4 million of the orders intended for Russian military companies. According to reports, the goods passed through Hong Kong or other countries before reaching Russia.

At the same time, Texas Instruments stated in its report that it dedicates significant time and resources to preventing its products from reaching Russia and continuously improves its policies and procedures to combat illegal redirection.

“I want to be very clear: TI strongly opposes the use of our chips in Russian military equipment. Any shipments of TI products into Russia are illicit and unauthorized. We work hard to prevent the illicit diversion of our parts into Russia. Every level of our company takes this seriously,” Shannon Thompson, the company's assistant general counsel, said during a hearing at the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 

Bloomberg reminded that the U.S. government had previously warned chip manufacturers about the need for greater control to prevent their technologies from reaching Russian military forces. However, Senator Richard Blumenthal believes that companies are "objectively and knowingly unable to prevent Russia from benefiting from the use of their technologies."

Bloomberg emphasized that the chip supply chain demonstrates how a shadow network of intermediaries and shell companies helps the Russian military-industrial complex continue to acquire American technologies, despite years of war and Western sanctions. According to the report, these relatively simple chips play a key role in Russia's ability to produce weapons.

• Earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, that on the night of November 26, Russia launched 188 self-detonating attack drones at Ukraine, each containing 85 foreign-made components.