- Oil giant BP reports drop in third-quarter net profit
- World's first green energy island sails into cost storm
- Georgia to partially recount disputed votes
- Pope's commission against abuse to publish first report
- Grieving parents fight to make Bulgaria's killer roads safer
- Taiwan worries about 'transactionalist' Trump as US votes
- Cuba's Buena Vista trumpeter Manuel 'Guajiro' Mirabal dies
- Spain seeks ground-breaking law for great apes
- Japan nuclear reactor near Fukushima to restart
- Suns scorch Lakers, Celtics stay perfect
- HSBC reports $8.5 billion pre-tax profit in third quarter
- A rare rehab centre fixes victims of Ethiopia's war
- The growing scourge of plastic pollution: in numbers
- Plastics: lifesaver turned environmental threat
- Outrage as Iran executes German-Iranian Jamshid Sharmahd
- China's only woman spaceflight engineer in crew for 'dream' mission
- Ohtani, Buehler overcome injuries to lift Dodgers a win from glory
- India temple firework explosion injures over 150
- S. Korean golfer Tom Kim sorry for damaging locker after playoff loss
- Dodgers beat Yankees to reach brink of World Series crown
- Asian shares rise as markets await tech results
- Iraq opens arms to Lebanese fleeing Israeli attacks
- Bruised Japan PM scrambles for support
- Saudi 'Davos in the desert' opens with region on war footing
- Myanmar's lost generation battles trauma, addiction at jungle rehab
- 'No one heard our cries': Tigray war rape survivors recount their ordeals
- Countdown to Busan: is a plastic pollution treaty in reach?
- Japan voters say 'punished' ruling party over scandal
- UNRWA, a lifeline for Palestinians amid decades of conflict
- Cuban blackout highlights urgency of boosting renewables: experts
- 'Amazing' AI de-ages Tom Hanks in new film 'Here'
- Big guns descend on Cali for final push in UN biodiversity talks
- 'I'm not a Nazi,' Trump insists as Harris blasts vile rhetoric
- Rodri wins men's Ballon d'Or as Real Madrid boycott
- Curry to miss at least two NBA games with left ankle injury
- Hefty electric vehicle costs dent Ford profits
- COP16 chair hails biodiversity attaining 'equal footing' with climate crisis
- Aitana Bonmati wins second successive women's Ballon d'Or
- Ohtani named in Dodgers starting line-up for World Series game three
- Real Madrid boycott Ballon d'Or ceremony
- US finalizes curbs on investing in Chinese tech
- Harris blasts Trump after racist rally rhetoric
- Tens of thousands protest in Georgia over 'stolen' election
- Man Utd sack Ten Hag, reportedly set to appoint Amorim
- Bolivia says Morales falsely claimed assassination bid
- Portuguese coach Ruben Amorim set for Manchester United job: reports
- Retiring Popp signs off as Germany's first female football superstar
- Chopin waltz unearthed after 200 years
- England's Freeman keen to make 'life a misery' for All Blacks' Reece
- Serie A strugglers Genoa sign Mario Balotelli
Tech sanctions on Russia a double-edged sword
Sanctions to limit Russia's access to tech components like semiconductors may temporarily hobble its defence industry, but analysts said they risk boomeranging on the West if Russia withholds key raw materials.
Such a move risks pushing Moscow to rely more on China, which will further reduce the West's leverage.
The sanctions the West adopted on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine have mostly targeted the financial sector, but some have begun to limit its access to high-tech components.
Japan, which is home to industrial giant Fujitsu, said Friday it will block exports to Russia of "general-purpose goods such as semiconductors".
While the EU is still considering what steps to take, the United States imposed on Thursday a ban that targets the defense and aerospace sectors and includes semiconductors, computers, telecommunications, information security equipment, lasers, and sensors.
The United States can impose its decisions beyond its borders by threatening to shut recalcitrant companies and countries off from access to key US technology.
That is what the Trump administration did in 2019 when it banned Chinese smartphone maker Huawei from using semiconductors and software that use US technology.
Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC, which was a major supplier of chips to Huawei, had to cut off supplies as it used US technology in their manufacturing.
Huawei had to turn to Chinese chip manufacturers, which didn't have the capacity to build semiconductors with as much processing power.
"Of course Russia could strengthen its ties with China but this doesn't mean the transition could happen overnight," said Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst at market intelligence firm IDC.
"Just think about how long it took for Huawei, how tough it is to come up with a solution different from an American company," he told AFP.
However Jeronimo noted that Russia may not be as dependent upon US technology as is believed.
The Russian government announced plans several years ago to shift the public administration off Windows and develop alternatives for the consumer market as well.
- Shortages -
"China is facing exactly the same challenges," said Jeronimo.
"They have been pushing their own technology."
Russia accounts for only one percent of global semiconductor sales, according to the industry's trade association, which means manufacturers will suffer little impact from a loss of sales.
But Moscow could disrupt the global supply chain for semiconductors if it adopts counter-sanctions to block exports of raw materials key for their manufacturing.
At the beginning of February, experts from Techcet, a technology consultancy, published a report showing that the US is dependent upon Russia for imports of the gases neon and C4F6, plus palladium, which are used to manufacture semiconductors.
"Russia is a crucial source of C4F6 which several US suppliers buy and purify for use in advanced node logic device etching and advanced lithography processes for chip production," said the Techcet report.
It said the US uses about 8 million tonnes of C4F6 per year.
Russia is also the top supplier of neon gas -- a side product of steel manufacturing -- which is purified in Ukraine before being exported.
Neon gas is used for the precision laser etching of circuits on silicon wafers.
Russia also produces a third of the world's palladium, a metal used in computer memory chips and catalytic convertors in car exhaust systems.
Supply disruptions in these materials could have consequences for semiconductor manufacturers, which were already having difficulty meeting the spike in demand during the pandemic.
Global auto manufacturers have suffered greatly from the chip shortage, having to idle production lines.
Any disruptions in raw supplies for the semiconductor industry will and the shortages of chips "will definitely last a lot longer. and consumers will pay the price with the device they want to buy," said Jeronimo.
E.Raimundo--PC