BIS, Industry Must 'Do More' to Protect Sensitive Chips, Official Says
The Bureau of Industry and Security needs more help from companies to stop Russia from acquiring export controlled semiconductors and other microelectronics, Matthew Axelrod, the agency’s top export enforcement official, said May 8 during a semiconductor summit hosted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. The joint Commerce Department-DOJ Disruptive Technology Strike Force has helped the government pool resources to investigate and prosecute export control violations, “but even this impactful coordinated effort across government enforcement agencies is, by itself, insufficient to meet the national security moment we’re facing,” Axelrod said. “[F]rankly, we need everyone to do more.”
He added: “We need industry’s help. We need your help.” BIS is “doing all we can to incentivize compliance, including conducting extensive outreach, publishing advisories and best practices documents, and updating our enforcement policies, to help drive compliance,” Axelrod said, also mentioning the red flag letters the agency has recently sent to American manufacturers, distributors and exporters (see 2403280058).
“Your products are now so powerful that they stand at the core of our country’s national security efforts,” he said during the summit, which included members of the chip industry. “Together, we must do even more to ensure that they remain protected from abuse by those who would do us and our allies harm.”