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Lawsuits may force Intel, AMD, and Texas Instruments to do more to control chip supply chains.
Haematologist Oksana Leonieva was killed by the Russian missile attack on the Ohmatdyt National Specialized Children's Hospital on July 8. Credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto
Dozens of Ukrainian civilians filed a series of lawsuits in Texas this week, accusing some of the biggest US chip firms of negligently failing to track chips that evaded export curbs. Those chips were ultimately used to power Russian and Iranian weapon systems, causing wrongful deaths last year.
Their complaints alleged that for years, Texas Instruments (TI), AMD, and Intel have ignored public reporting, government warnings, and shareholder pressure to do more to track final destinations of chips and shut down shady distribution channels diverting chips to sanctioned actors in Russia and Iran.
Putting profits over human lives, tech firms continued using “high-risk” channels, Ukrainian civilians’ legal team alleged in a press statement, without ever strengthening controls.
All that intermediaries who placed bulk online orders had to do to satisfy chip firms was check a box confirming that the shipment wouldn’t be sent to sanctioned countries, lead attorney Mikal Watts told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, according to the Kyiv Independent.
“There are export lists,” Watts said. “We know exactly what requires a license and what doesn’t. And companies know who they’re selling to. But instead, they rely on a checkbox that says, ‘I’m not shipping to Putin.’ That’s it. No enforcement. No accountability.”
As chip firms allegedly looked the other way, innocent civilians faced five attacks, detailed in the lawsuits, that used weapons containing their chips. That includes one of the deadliest attacks in Kyiv, where Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital was targeted in July 2024. Some civilians suing were survivors seriously injured in attacks, while others lost loved ones and experienced emotional trauma.
Russia would not be able to hit their targets without chips supplied by US firms, the lawsuits alleged. Considered the brain of weapon systems, including drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, the chips help enable Russia’s war against Ukrainian civilians, they alleged.
“These chips are like the steering wheels of cars,” Watts said at the press conference. “Without them, missiles and drones make no sense.” He suggested that firms that claim they cannot trace their own products made “a mockery of US sanctions law.”
Ars could not reach AMD or TI for comment. But TI’s assistant general counsel, Shannon Thompson, testified to Congress last year that the company “strongly opposes the use of our chips in Russian military equipment” and that any such shipments “are illicit and unauthorized,” Bloomberg reported.
An Intel spokesperson provided a lengthy statement to Ars, admitting that the firm cannot always control or trace chips or other products bypassing sanctions:
Intel does not do business in Russia and promptly suspended all shipments to customers in both Russia and Belarus following the outbreak of war. We operate in strict accordance with export laws, sanctions and regulations in the U.S. and every jurisdiction in which we operate. Most Intel products are general-purpose computing products that can be incorporated into countless systems and applications that are sold by distributors, system manufacturers, and others, and not directly by Intel. While we do not always know nor can we control what products or applications customers and end-users may create, we hold our suppliers, customers and distributors accountable to these same standards. We take these issues very seriously and will continue to enforce our policies in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.
Ukrainians want firms to cover funeral costs, medical bills
The evidence of alleged negligence is “extensive,” Watts’ firm’s statement said.
For example, TI rejected its own board’s recommendations to strengthen compliance with export curbs, despite shareholder fears of financial repercussions of failing to do so. TI allegedly told shareholders that “complete traceability and prevention of product misuse was ‘unachievable,'” the press statement said. But that didn’t satisfy shareholders who demanded a third-party audit to find out what other steps TI could be taking to cut off sketchy distribution channels and improve compliance with sanctions laws.
To back claims, the lawsuits cited a 2023 US Institute of Peace report finding that as much as 82 percent of recovered drones that Russia deployed to strike Ukrainian homes and critical infrastructure relied on US-made components, including from TI. Another study that year found AMD components commonly used in Russian drones where nearly 70 percent of parts were made by US firms.
More than 53,000 Ukrainian civilians have died since Russia’s invasion in 2022. As more evidence is surfaced, Watts expects the lawsuits to grow, potentially allowing more civilians to seek compensation.
Damages sought include funeral expenses and medical costs, as well as “exemplary damages” that are “intended to punish especially wrongful conduct and to deter similar conduct in the future.” For plaintiffs, the latter is the point of the litigation, which they hope will cut off key supply chains to keep US tech out of weapon systems deployed against innocent civilians.
“They want to send a clear message that American companies must take responsibility when their technologies are weaponized and used to commit harm across the globe,” the press statement said. “Corporations must be held accountable when its unlawful decisions made in the name of profit directly cause the death of innocents and widespread human suffering.”
For chip firms, the litigation could get costly if more civilians join, with the threat of a loss potentially forcing changes that could squash supply chains currently working to evade sanctions.
“We want to make this process so expensive and painful that companies are forced to act,” Watts said. “That is our contribution to stopping the war against civilians.”
Haematologist Oksana Leonieva was killed by the Russian missile attack on the Ohmatdyt National Specialized Children's Hospital on July 8. Credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto
Dozens of Ukrainian civilians filed a series of lawsuits in Texas this week, accusing some of the biggest US chip firms of negligently failing to track chips that evaded export curbs. Those chips were ultimately used to power Russian and Iranian weapon systems, causing wrongful deaths last year.
Their complaints alleged that for years, Texas Instruments (TI), AMD, and Intel have ignored public reporting, government warnings, and shareholder pressure to do more to track final destinations of chips and shut down shady distribution channels diverting chips to sanctioned actors in Russia and Iran.
Putting profits over human lives, tech firms continued using “high-risk” channels, Ukrainian civilians’ legal team alleged in a press statement, without ever strengthening controls.
All that intermediaries who placed bulk online orders had to do to satisfy chip firms was check a box confirming that the shipment wouldn’t be sent to sanctioned countries, lead attorney Mikal Watts told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday, according to the Kyiv Independent.
“There are export lists,” Watts said. “We know exactly what requires a license and what doesn’t. And companies know who they’re selling to. But instead, they rely on a checkbox that says, ‘I’m not shipping to Putin.’ That’s it. No enforcement. No accountability.”
As chip firms allegedly looked the other way, innocent civilians faced five attacks, detailed in the lawsuits, that used weapons containing their chips. That includes one of the deadliest attacks in Kyiv, where Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital was targeted in July 2024. Some civilians suing were survivors seriously injured in attacks, while others lost loved ones and experienced emotional trauma.
Russia would not be able to hit their targets without chips supplied by US firms, the lawsuits alleged. Considered the brain of weapon systems, including drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, the chips help enable Russia’s war against Ukrainian civilians, they alleged.
“These chips are like the steering wheels of cars,” Watts said at the press conference. “Without them, missiles and drones make no sense.” He suggested that firms that claim they cannot trace their own products made “a mockery of US sanctions law.”
Ars could not reach AMD or TI for comment. But TI’s assistant general counsel, Shannon Thompson, testified to Congress last year that the company “strongly opposes the use of our chips in Russian military equipment” and that any such shipments “are illicit and unauthorized,” Bloomberg reported.
An Intel spokesperson provided a lengthy statement to Ars, admitting that the firm cannot always control or trace chips or other products bypassing sanctions:
Intel does not do business in Russia and promptly suspended all shipments to customers in both Russia and Belarus following the outbreak of war. We operate in strict accordance with export laws, sanctions and regulations in the U.S. and every jurisdiction in which we operate. Most Intel products are general-purpose computing products that can be incorporated into countless systems and applications that are sold by distributors, system manufacturers, and others, and not directly by Intel. While we do not always know nor can we control what products or applications customers and end-users may create, we hold our suppliers, customers and distributors accountable to these same standards. We take these issues very seriously and will continue to enforce our policies in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.
The evidence of alleged negligence is “extensive,” Watts’ firm’s statement said.
For example, TI rejected its own board’s recommendations to strengthen compliance with export curbs, despite shareholder fears of financial repercussions of failing to do so. TI allegedly told shareholders that “complete traceability and prevention of product misuse was ‘unachievable,'” the press statement said. But that didn’t satisfy shareholders who demanded a third-party audit to find out what other steps TI could be taking to cut off sketchy distribution channels and improve compliance with sanctions laws.
To back claims, the lawsuits cited a 2023 US Institute of Peace report finding that as much as 82 percent of recovered drones that Russia deployed to strike Ukrainian homes and critical infrastructure relied on US-made components, including from TI. Another study that year found AMD components commonly used in Russian drones where nearly 70 percent of parts were made by US firms.
More than 53,000 Ukrainian civilians have died since Russia’s invasion in 2022. As more evidence is surfaced, Watts expects the lawsuits to grow, potentially allowing more civilians to seek compensation.
Damages sought include funeral expenses and medical costs, as well as “exemplary damages” that are “intended to punish especially wrongful conduct and to deter similar conduct in the future.” For plaintiffs, the latter is the point of the litigation, which they hope will cut off key supply chains to keep US tech out of weapon systems deployed against innocent civilians.
“They want to send a clear message that American companies must take responsibility when their technologies are weaponized and used to commit harm across the globe,” the press statement said. “Corporations must be held accountable when its unlawful decisions made in the name of profit directly cause the death of innocents and widespread human suffering.”
For chip firms, the litigation could get costly if more civilians join, with the threat of a loss potentially forcing changes that could squash supply chains currently working to evade sanctions.
“We want to make this process so expensive and painful that companies are forced to act,” Watts said. “That is our contribution to stopping the war against civilians.”
