China Re-exports Dutch-made NXP Chips to Russia for Use in Weapons: Reports

Microchips made by Dutch companies NXP and Nexperia were found in Russian weapons being used against Ukraine, and investigators pointed finger at China as the re-supplier.

The Dutch products were reportedly found in a Russian howitzer, a cruise missile, an attack helicopter, and a Shahed-136-type kamikaze drone.

According to the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), the world’s oldest and UK’s leading defence and security think tank, 10 of the 27 Russian weapons it studied had NXP chips.

An investigation by Journalists from NOS and Nieuwsuur notes that there is a “clear picture” of how a small group of Chinese companies receive chips from the Netherlands and export them to Russia. One of the companies that re-exports chips is included in the U.S. sanctions list.

Manufacturers emphasize that they comply with the rules and sanctions and do not do business with Russia. Their customers also do not have the right to sell chips in the Russian Federation, Militarnyi reported citing Dutch media.

Both transnational corporations say they have no answer as to how the fraudulent brokers still manage to buy their products.

NXP clients are “carefully” checked. The company claims to go beyond legal obligations in compliance with sanctions. It is unclear what exactly this means and whether the company will take action against the group of Chinese intermediaries.

Nexperia insists that its export control team used the latest software “to monitor the distribution.” If the distributor violates the sanctions, the contract will be terminated. The company does not wish to disclose whether this happened last year. The bottom line is: reselling to third parties is something “we can’t always control or prevent.”

The investigation emphasized that EU sanctions are being massively bypassed. For example, small companies ship chips to Russia by mail. Asian traders are also reselling products to Russia at high profitability.

According to investigators, the largest intermediary is the Chinese company Sinno Electronics, but unlike the United States, the EU has not imposed sanctions against it.