How Russia's invasion of Ukraine could affect industries in Austin
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The White House unleashed another round of economic sanctions against Russia Thursday, in an effort to halt the Kremlin's invasion.
They said the unprecedented measures cut off more than half of Russia's high-tech imports, restricting things like semiconductors, encryption security and lasers that are hoped to cripple Russia's industrial base.
The U.S. semiconductor industry said Thursday it's committed to following the White House's new rules against Russia.
We are still reviewing the new rules to determine their impact on our industry. While the impact of the new rules to Russia could be significant, Russia is not a significant direct consumer of semiconductors, accounting for less than 0.1% of global chip purchases, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization.
Semiconductor Industry Association
The U.S. also imports commodities from Russia.
According to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the top import categories in 2019 included mineral fuels, precious metal and stone (platinum), iron and steel.
Supply chain expert and University of Texas at Austin professor Edward Anderson said a disruption in platinum and silver trade may affect Austin.
"[They are] used to create the contacts within semiconductors and also from semiconductors to circuit boards," said Anderson, Wright Centennial Professor for Management of Innovative Technology at UT's McCombs School of Business.
Still, the Semiconductor Industry Association said it has "a diverse set of suppliers of key materials and gases, so we do not believe there are immediate supply disruption risks related to Russia and Ukraine.”
Anderson said a much bigger concern is China, which processes minerals like lithium for electric cars here.
"With respect to Tesla, if China gets involved and cuts off shipments to us, of either lithium or the rare earths, eventually that's going to shut down all the electric vehicle plants in the U.S.," Anderson said.
China hasn't condemned Russia's attack on Ukraine.
"They are doing something, but I don't believe in these sanctions," said Kamila Bazadze, a demonstrator who joined with a crowd Thursday at the Texas Capitol to voice opposition against Russia. "They don't work. They just don't work."
She wasn't sure about going to Thursday's rally but hopes their call is heard for world leaders to do more to stop Russia.
"I'm too depressed, I'm too scared, I'm too shocked, I, I don't want to go outside. But then it's like the least we can do, just support our people," Bazadze said.
The president has made it clear the U.S. would not go after Russia militarily.