U.S. 'absolutely' will hit Chinese firms if they violate export controls on Russia

The United States will "absolutely" enforce export controls if Chinese companies send semiconductors to Russia that were made with U.S technology, a move that could "essentially shut them down," Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday.

Raimondo doubled down on U.S. threats to punish any company in any country that violated tough export controls imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, together with 32 other countries worldwide.

Raimondo said all Chinese semiconductor companies relied on U.S. software to make their semiconductors, which made them subject to controls. "If we find that they are selling chips to Russia, then we can essentially shut them down by denying them use of that software, and we're absolutely prepared to do that," she told Reuters in an interview.