US authorities have hit Seagate with a $A445 million fine for exporting hard disk drives to Chinese company Huawei.
The Department of Commerce says the hard drive maker sent more than $1.1 billion (A$1.63 billion) worth of its products to Huawei after export laws were introduced in 2020.
Seagate shipped 7.4 million drives to Huawei for about a year after the laws came into play, “even after Huawei was placed on the Entity List for conduct inimical to our national security,” Matthew Axelrod of the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said.
“This settlement is a clarion call about the need for companies to comply rigorously with BIS export rules, as our enforcement team works to ensure both our national security and a level playing field.”
The department notes that Huawei’s two other main HD suppliers stopped exports once the law was introduced.
