AMD and Intel will halt all chip sales to Russia and Belarus due to the invasion of Ukraine.
“Intel condemns the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and we have suspended all shipments to customers in both Russia and Belarus,” the company said in a statement.
AMD cites the export controls the US imposed on Russia for its decision, according to PCWorld. “Based on sanctions placed on Russia by the United States and other nations, at this time AMD is suspending its sales and distribution of our products into Russia and Belarus,” AMD said. “It is all AMD products and products we power (PCs, etc) in Russia and Belarus.”
Russian publication RBC was first to report the move last week, citing sources in the local IT market. On Thursday, Intel and AMD publicly confirmed the shipment stoppage.
The temporary ban will make it hard for Russian-based users to buy PC and server chips from official channels, and could significantly raise prices on what chip inventories the country can source. Earlier this week, Apple also decided to halt all product sales and exports to Russia over the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The other major chip manufacturer, TSMC, has only told Reuters it plans to comply with US sanctions on Russia that ban technology exports to the country’s defense, aerospace, and maritime sectors.
The White House-imposed sanctions mainly focus on crippling Russia's banking and industrial sectors, not the consumer market. In fact, the export controls include a carve-out for consumer communication devices. Nevertheless, Apple, Intel, and AMD have gone beyond the sanctions and decided to cut off product supplies to the Russian market. Intel's statement added: "We will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine and the global community in calling for an immediate end to this war and a swift return to peace.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov on Friday urged Samsung to suspend all product and service sales to Russia. “We believe that such actions will motivate the youth and the active population of Russia to proactively stop the disgraceful military aggression,” he wrote in a letter to Samsung Electronics's CEO.
We reached out to Nvidia about its Russia-related plans, and will update the story if we hear back.