US Gives Engineer 5+ Years for Plot to Illegally Export Semiconductor Chips to China - DOJ

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2021) An electrical engineer from California has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for plotting to illegally export US-made military semiconductor chips to China, the Justice Department said in a press release.

"A California man [Yi-Chi Shih] was sentenced today to 63 months, or more than five years, in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally export integrated circuits with military applications to China the required filing of electronic export information," the release said on Thursday. "As part of his sentence, the Judge ordered Shih to pay $362,698 in restitution to the IRS and fined him $300,000."

The semiconductor chips, known as monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), are used in missiles, missile guidance systems, fighter jets, electronic warfare, electronic warfare countermeasures and radar applications, the release said.

Shih planned to export the semiconductor chips to a state-owned entity in China called AVIC 607, the release said.

The release said Shih was the President of Chengdu GaStone Technology Company, a Chinese company that was building a plant to manufacture MMICs in the city of Chengdu. The company was blacklisted by the US Commerce Department in 2014 due to national security concerns.

However, the Shih used a US-based company he controlled, called Pullman Lan Production LLC, to funnel funds from Chinese entities to pay for the semiconductor chips.

Overall, Shih was convicted of four counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to gain unauthorized access to a protected computer to obtain information, one count of making false statements to an FBI agent, three counts of subscribing to a false tax return, and four counts of making false statements to the IRS about his foreign assets.