Taiwan’s Acer supplies computer hardware to Russia despite announcing business suspension

We all know about the fact that there is a war going on between Russia and Ukraine even as we speak and while it has been going on for more than a year now, there are times when we feel like everything is about to break lose in this war. Talking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is worth noting that the companies all over the world started to exit and wrap up their operations in Russia and major brands from the US have even sold off their assets in the country and left them permanently. However, one company from Taiwan that announced it will suspend business with Russia has retracted on its announcement.

We are talking about Taiwan’s Asus which is a computer manufacturer and one of the biggest from Taiwan. Reuters reports that Asus “supplied at least $70.4 million worth of computer hardware to Russia between April 8, 2022 and March 31, 2023” as per a customs data seen by the publications which reveals that they are doing business with Russia even after announcing a suspension. It is worth noting that these computer hardware was not supplied directly from Taiwan but from “Acer’s wholly-owned subsidiary registered in Switzerland and a number of delivery services by order of that subsidiary”.

So technically, Asus did not breach Taiwan’s sanctions against Russia but is still worth pointing out that the hardware was supplied by Asus. Following this report, Asus Taiwan released a statement saying that “we strictly adhere to applicable international regulations and trade laws regarding exports to Russia” and added that while Asus’ Swiss subsidiary “had not shipped any laptops or desktops to Russia since April 8 last year”, but that it had supplied a “limited number of displays and accessories to the Russian market for civilian daily use while ensuring compliance with international sanctions” which means that they did supply computer hardware to Russia and that too for military usage. A source close to the matter revealed that Asus products “including PC monitors and laptops, continued to be shipped to Russia after April 2022”. Reuters also reports that Acer products in Russia continue to be available even today despite sanctions.