Samsung Has Refused To Purchase In Russia
- 27.05.2025, 10:20
The company stopped shipments of Russian gold, tungsten and tantalum.
South Korean gadget display manufacturer Samsung Display has given up using Russian gold, tungsten and tantalum in 2024. This follows from the company's reports, to which "Kommersant" drew attention.
The document conceals data on the supply of these metals from Russia for 2022 and 2023. At the same time, in 2021 Samsung Display received raw materials from 11 different Russian enterprises. In particular, gold was supplied by Novosibirsk Refinery, Uralelectromed, Moscow Special Alloys Plant, Krastsvetmet, Priorka Non-Ferrous Metals Plant and Shchelkovo Non-Ferrous Metals Plant. In turn, tantalum was supplied by Solikamsk Magnesium Plant, and tungsten by Hydrometallurg, Unecha Plant and Moscow Moliren Plant.
Tungsten in electronics is used for metal wiring inside the chip, tantalum is used as a barrier in the chip between silicon and copper, and gold thread is used to unweld the crystals of the chip when it is assembled into a case. Samsung Display is a subsidiary of Samsung Corporation that makes displays for televisions, smartphones, laptops, and other gadgets. In addition to Samsung's own devices, the South Korean company's displays are used by other electronics manufacturers, including Apple, which gave up Russian raw materials in its gadgets after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. For example, Samsung together with LG have been mass producing displays for the iPhone 16 Pro since May 2024, MacRumors reported.
The refusal from Russian metals is due to the threat of falling under secondary sanctions, says the director of the consortium of Russian developers of data storage systems Oleg Izumrudov. At the same time, he said, the South Korean company can still buy raw materials in Russia, but through intermediaries. "As a result, this can be both a plus for the final product and a minus, because if purchases are made through a global legal entity, the cost of devices will increase by 2-5% due to long supply chains. If purchases are made through the manufacturing plant in China, the cost may be lower by the same 2-5%," said Izumrudov.
At the same time, Kommersant's source among electronics manufacturers believes that Samsung has abandoned Russian metals rather than increasing the supply chain through Asia. In his opinion, the company itself will not be affected in any way. "For Russia, it rather means that South Korean companies do not plan to return to the Russian market in the near future and plan to have limited trade ties, that is, they are interested in the sale of finished products, but do not want to have close cooperation," concluded the interlocutor of the newspaper.