HardwareEx-AMD fab GlobalFoundries has been fined $500K after admitting it shipped $17,000,000 worth of product to a company associated with China’s military industrial complexWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

HardwareEx-AMD fab GlobalFoundries has been fined $500K after admitting it shipped $17,000,000 worth of product to a company associated with China’s military industrial complexWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A 300 millimetre silicon wafer in the clean rooms at the Globalfoundries fabrication (fab) plant in Dresden, Germany, on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021.

Now the company has fessed up to shipping $17 million worth of products to Chinese company SJ Semiconductor between February 2021 to October 2022 (viaThe New York Times). The Bureau of Industry and Security says that GlobalFoundries sent 74 different shipments of wafers over the course of this period, and as a result it would impose a fine of $500,000 for breaching the ongoingUS-China chip trade restrictions.

SJ Semiconductor was added to the “entity list” of export regulated companiesback in December 2020for its links to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC). At the time, the US government said that SMIC was added “as a result of China’s military-civil fusion (MCF) doctrine and evidence of activities between SMIC and entities of concern in the Chinese military industrial complex.”

According to the BIS, GlobalFoundries voluntarily disclosed the breach of restrictions and co-operated with the investigation, and as a result received a relatively small fine. GlobalFoundries is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the CHIPS act, with$1.5 billion awarded to the companyearlier this year, alongside $1.6 billion in federal loans.

Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Matthew S. Axelrod said: “We want U.S. companies to be hypervigilant when sending semiconductor materials to Chinese parties

“And when, as here, that vigilance falls short and semiconductor materials have gone where they shouldn’t, we want companies to make voluntary disclosures, remediate, and cooperate with us.”

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TSMC is said to have halted shipments to a client in mid-October, after learning that chips fabricated for that entity were making their way into Huawei products. The company has reportedly notified both the US and Taiwanese governments of its findings, and is “investigating the matter more thoroughly”, according to Bloomberg’s unnamed source.

While a $500,000 fine might seem like a drop in the ocean for a major semiconductor manufacturer like GlobalFoundries, it seems like the US government may be going easy on the financial penalties in order to encourage companies that find themselves in breach of the restrictions to come forward.

Fess up, pay less seems to be the ethos here, although whether this lenient stance continues into the next administration after the US elections later this week remains to be seen.

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Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.

Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.

Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.

Best CPU for gamingBest gaming motherboardBest graphics cardBest SSD for gaming

Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.

Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.

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