As Vladimir Putin continues the invasion of Ukraine, CNBC reports that major American technology companies have decided to cut the economic ties that united them with Russia. Measures taken in line with the sanctions imposed by the American government.
Oracle, Apple, Intel, Google and AMD halt operations in Russia
On the night of March 1 to 2, Apple got the ball rolling by formalizing a series of particularly strict measures against Russia, including the suspension of the sale of all its products (iPhone, Mac, iPad) in the country. The Cupertino company also said it had suppressed Russian state-supported media, RT News and Sputnik News, from the App Store worldwide, except Russia. Google has also removed these two media from its Play Store in Europe.
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Most of the US tech giants followed suit. Oracle, Intel and AMD have also suspended operations in Russia. Oracle said “that in the name of the Ukrainian people and their elected government, our company has suspended all operations with the Russian Federation”. On Thursday, March 3, AMD and Intel declared have halted sales of their products in Russia and Belarusa strong commitment from the semiconductor industry to act against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Intel has followed suit with its competitors. Chip sales in Putin’s land represent only a small fraction of total sales. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, “Russia is not a significant direct consumer of semiconductors, accounting for less than 0.1% of global chip purchases, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization”.
Meta believes that disabling its services “could be harmful”
At the same time, Airbnb said it suspended all operations in Russia and Belarus. Brian Chesky, the company’s co-founder, announced the decision on Twitter late Thursday, three days after Airbnb said that 100,000 Ukrainian refugees would be hosted for free. Microsoft has also decided to withdraw from the Russian market. Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a blog post on Friday that the company will “suspend all new sales of products and services and stop many aspects of our business in Russia in accordance with government decisions”.
Meta is trapped. Mark Zuckerberg’s company said it “wanted to stay online in Russia so they could help counter the propaganda being broadcast on their platform”. A spokesperson said that “disabling our services could be harmful”. Chinese tech companies, meanwhile, have remained particularly silent. Huawei, Xiaomi or Alibaba have not yet announced any sanctions against Russia. They are in a delicate situation: Chinese companies have the choice between complying with Western sanctions against Russia or bowing to the line of the Chinese government at the risk of exposing themselves to huge fines and penalties.