EU Sanctions Indian Tech Outfit That Has Partnered With New Delhi's IT Ministry

The European Union has imposed sanctions against Indian microelectronics maker Si2 Microsystems late last week for allegedly providing Russia with goods and technology that support the country's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

The bloc’s thirteenth package of sanctions issued late last week includes 194 individual designations and 88 entities, taking the total number to over 2000 listings.

A document on the decision from the EU asserted that "Russia's ability to wage its war of aggression must be further weakened, including by further strengthening sanctions, and through their full and effective implementation and the prevention of their circumvention, especially for high-risk goods, in close cooperation with partners and allies."

Si2 Microsystems describes itself as a system-in-package and microsystems solutions provider. It designs and assembles integrated circuits for commercial, military and space industries.

In the past it has counted India’s Space Research Organisation (ISRO), GE and IBM as customers.

The Bangalore-based outfit is also a partner of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, as part of an effort to research fabrication of chips with silicon photonic processor cores.

Those chips cater to a wide array of sectors, explained a government press release – including quantum computing, quantum communication, 5G/6G communications, IoT, radar and avionics, and more – while spearheading Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) manufacturing in India.

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According to local media, the Indian government is examining details of the EU sanctions, and deciding whether it should contact the EU to protest the decision.

The EU is not the only entity to have sanctioned Si2 Microsystems on account of alleged Russian ties. The US Department of Commerce added it to its Entities List in November 2023 "for providing support to Russia's military and/or defense industrial base" by exporting chips without a license.

Specifically, the US is irked that Si2 "supplied Russian consignees connected to the Russian defense sector with US-origin integrated circuits after March 1, 2023," when the components in question had been under export controls since the previous November. ®