So, is this new that we're starting to see India as a way of accessing Nvidia chips for Russia, for example? So, I think the role of India has certainly come into focus for the West, so for Europe and the US. Um, over the past couple of years, they've been looking at various countries in Asia as transshipment hubs where these goods can essentially come from subsidiaries, vendors, distributors, these goods primarily manufactured by Western companies and primarily US companies, actually. Um, so the role of India is kind of, I guess, the magnitude of the role of India as a hub has certainly become much greater over the last few months. And why have they become such prominent actors in what is basically Russia trying to navigate barriers to accessing US tech? So, there's a lot of reasons. I mean, partly when we talk to officials in the US and Europe about it, one thing they point to is that India has been buying a lot of Russian oil, and Russia has a lot of rupees at its disposal. So, it's been using these repats to its

been spending them essentially buying these goods out of India. So, that's one part, a big part driving this increase of this trade. Another reason is also that, you know, Western officials, the US and Europe, have put a lot of effort into cracking down on other transshipment hubs. For example, the earlier part of last year, there was a big focus in the UAE, Turkey, Central Europe, Central Asia, sorry, as areas where these goods were being sent to Russia. So, I think a large part is the rupees that Russia has top-end spent, but another one is that they're cracking down. The West is cracking down on other areas where these goods were originally shipped from. Now, these Nvidia chips are in Dell servers known as PowerEdge XC9 680s. And Dell has said, Look, since ever the sanctions came into place, they've stopped shipments to Russia. But I'm interested in whether ultimately any of this is actually illegal. Well, technically, it's not illegal in that India is not bound by US or European sanctions. And in terms of the companies, I mean, it's true, you know.

a chip produced by a company in the US. I mean, it's its trade cycle, I guess, around the world. It's impossible, difficult to track because you have vendors, distributors, subsidiaries, all these other kinds of companies or, you know, people, um, that take part in the trade route. So, in terms of legal responsibility, it's almost impossible to place that on someone, certainly in the US, who would be liable, uh, but what could happen exp post is that, um, which has been happening, is that the US could, for example, designate a lot of these companies, a lot of these intermediaries around the world who do participate in the trade of these goods.

Big Take: Indian Firm Sends Nvidia Chips to Russia

Welcome to the Bloomberg Technology YouTube channel. Subscribe for original series and mini-docs on game-changing technologies, profiles on innovators, live conversations with experts, and breaking technology news & analysis from Bloomberg TV.