Dozens of Ukrainian civilians this week filed a string of lawsuits in Texas, accusing several major US chipmakers of negligence for failing to track components that bypassed export restrictions. The complaints say those chips were later used to power Russian and Iranian weapons, resulting in wrongful deaths last year.
The filings allege that for years Texas Instruments (TI), AMD, and Intel ignored media reports, government alerts, and investor pressure to do more to trace where chips ended up and to stop dubious distribution networks funneling parts to sanctioned actors in Russia and Iran.
In a press statement, the Ukrainians’ legal team accused the companies of putting profits ahead of lives by continuing to rely on “high-risk” channels without strengthening safeguards.
Lead lawyer Mikal Watts told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday that middlemen making bulk online purchases only had to tick a box assuring the chipmakers the shipment wouldn’t go to sanctioned countries, according to the Kyiv Independent.
“There are export lists,” Watts said. “We know precisely what requires a license and what doesn’t. Companies know whom they’re selling to. Instead, they depend on a checkbox that states, ‘I’m not shipping to Putin.’ That’s it. No enforcement. No accountability.”
While the chipmakers allegedly turned a blind eye, the lawsuits describe five attacks that used weapons containing those chips, including one of the deadliest strikes in Kyiv when the country’s largest children’s hospital was hit in July 2024. Some plaintiffs are survivors who suffered severe injuries; others lost family members and endure lasting emotional trauma.
The suits contend that Russia could not have struck those targets without chips sourced from US firms. The components, described as the “brain” of systems such as drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, are accused of enabling Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilians, the complaints say.
