Weeks into the Russia Ukraine war Lenovo has quietly quit selling PC’s, notebooks and servers in Russia.
Observers claim that Lenovo came under pressure from U.S. sanctions and the loss of access to the US market despite Beijing urging them to resist overseas coercion.
China responded by announcing that all foreign PC’s including the likes of Apple, Dell, HP were banned from being purchased by Chinese Governmenty departments.
Lenovo chose to avoided making public statements about Russia’s war in Ukraine or their business there as Beijing opposes Western sanctions claims the Wall Street Journal.
DJI Technology who hold the lions share of the global drone market, announced the suspension of its business in both Russia and Ukraine last month.
DJI’s announcement last month that it would suspend its business in Russia and Ukraine made the company a rare example of a Chinese company publicly halting activities over the conflict. The company did so following reports of the use of its drones in the conflict and complaints from Ukrainian officials of technical glitches in its products.
“DJI has taken this action not to make a statement about any country, but to make a statement about our principles,” a DJI spokesman said. “DJI abhors any use of our drones to cause harm, and we are temporarily suspending sales in these countries in order to help ensure no one uses our drones in combat.”
China’s exports of tech products to Russia fell sharply in March from February, with shipments of laptops declining more than 40%, smartphones down by nearly two-thirds and exports of telecom base stations down 98%, according to the most recently available Chinese government trade data.
For Lenovo the issue to the potential of being banned in the USA where they sell millions of Lenovo products.
Processor rands such as Intel and Qualcomm who supply Lenovo who also own Motorola are believed to have pressured Lenovo to pull out of Russia or fsace supply problems.
They wanted to ensure their semiconductors don’t end up in third-party goods shipped to Russia in violation of the rules, according to sources.
China’s Ministry of Commerce last month acknowledged that the sanctions have disrupted China’s trade with Russia, but urged companies “not to submit to external coercion and make improper external statements.”
The WSJ reported that in April, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said export controls by the U.S. and allies have cut Russia’s imports of high-tech goods by more than half, and left Russia short on semiconductors and struggling to find parts for its military. In an interview with the New York Times in March, she threatened Chinese companies with penalties if they fail to comply with sanctions.
If a Chinese PC company were cut off from a key chip supplier, “that would be catastrophic,” said Steve Brazier, chief executive of market research firm Canalys. “You can understand why they might be motivated not to get caught by that.”