White House tells chip industry to brace for Russian supply disruptions

FILE PHOTO: A view of a chip on an electronic device at a shop in Brussels, Belgium, February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is warning the chip industry to diversify its supply chain in case Russia retaliates against threatened U.S. export curbs by blocking access to key materials, people familiar with the matter said.

The potential for retaliation has garnered more attention in recent days after Techcet, a market research group, published a report on Feb. 1 highlighting the reliance of many semiconductor manufacturers on Russian and Ukrainian-sourced materials like neon, palladium and others.