The share of defective microchips in shipments from China to Russia has gone up from 2% to 40%, the business newspaper Kommersantreported citing a source in the Russian electronics market.
According to the source, Russian buyers have started importing electronics and other parts on their own due to sanctions. Goods are being bought from intermediaries as opposed to directly from factories, which negatively impacts the level of quality control.
Russia started experiencing problems with its microchip supply after Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine. Foreign manufacturers are refusing to work with Russian customers due to sanctions, so the latter have to come up with unusual methods to obtain them. For example, Sberbank – Russia’s largest financial institution – began “reimplanting” chips from non-activated cards into new ones due to the shortage.