U.S. officials says chip exports to Russia down 90%

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has said that since the U.S. and its allies imposed sanctions on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine, global semiconductor exports to Russia have fallen by 90 percent.

Speaking at an annual Commerce Department conference, Raimondo added that controls placed on Russia's aerospace sector were affecting its ability to generate revenue and support military aviation, scandinavianews.com reports.

"Russia may be forced to ground between half and two-thirds of its commercial aircraft in the next four years in order to cannibalize them for spare parts," she said, according to Reuters.

Amidst U.S. efforts to enforce sanctions against Moscow, U.S. President Joe Biden's administration recently added five Chinese companies to a trade blacklist for allegedly supporting Russia's military and defense industries.

While China was generally complying with the sanctions, Washington is closely monitoring compliance and rigorously enforcing the regulations, U.S. officials said.

This week, Raimondo repeated her threat to "shut down" China's top chipmaker, SMIC, if it is found to be supplying chips to Russia.

"What if SMIC or other Chinese-based semiconductor companies are found supplying chips to Russia? We will shut them down and we can, because almost every chip in the world and in China is made using U.S. equipment and software and I intend to make good on that commitment, if it is necessary."