A series of lawsuits filed Wednesday in Dallas accuses leading semiconductor companies—including Intel Corp., Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., and a Berkshire Hathaway-owned distributor—of allowing their technology to end up in Russian-made weapons that killed and injured Ukrainian civilians. The suits claim the companies demonstrated “willful ignorance” as third parties resold restricted chips to Russia, allegedly violating U.S. sanctions.
The lawsuits, representing dozens of Ukrainian victims, cite five attacks between 2023 and 2025, involving Iranian-made drones and Russian KH-101 cruise missiles and Iskander ballistic missiles. According to court filings, the chips were diverted and incorporated into precision-guided munitions and drones, contributing directly to civilian casualties.
Texas Instruments, AMD, Intel, and the Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary Mouser Electronics did not immediately comment. Bloomberg reported last year that longstanding sanctions and export controls had failed to prevent chips from these companies from reaching Russia’s military industry. These components reportedly power drones, glide bombs, communication systems, and Iskander missiles used in attacks across Ukraine.
One lawsuit specifically accused the companies of “domestic corporate negligence” for failing to enforce adequate export control and diversion-prevention measures. Mikal Watts, a U.S. mass-tort lawyer representing the plaintiffs, argued that the companies’ distribution practices, including those of Mouser, foreseeably contributed to the injuries suffered abroad. Mouser, acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2007, is accused of facilitating chip transfers to shell companies controlled by Russian proxies.
The cases were filed in Texas because the defendants have substantial operations in the state, and the Ukrainian court system was deemed unworkable due to the ongoing war. Bloomberg’s reporting and investigations into the issue have highlighted repeated warnings from U.S. officials that chipmakers must do more to prevent their products from fueling the conflict in Ukraine.
