On April 21st, according to US media reports, Seagate was fined a hefty $300 million for illegally supplying goods to China.
According to the report, after the new export control regulations against Huawei came into effect, Seagate still sold hard drives to Huawei from August 2020 to September 2021 and shipped approximately 7.4 million hard drives, becoming Huawei’s only hard drive supplier, in violation of US export controls.
As early as 2020, Seagate stated that it believed its product business was not covered by the US ban, so its hard drive exports to Huawei did not require a license.
It is reported that Seagate has agreed to pay a fine of $300 million, which will be paid in quarterly installments of $15 million over five years, with the first payment due in October.
Seagate believes that the hard drive drives manufactured by the company abroad are not subject to US export control regulations, as they are not direct products of US equipment. Seagate CEO Mosley said in a statement, “Although we believe that we have complied with all relevant export control laws when selling hard drives, we believe that… resolving this issue (reaching a settlement) is the best approach.
