Russian Spy Gets 3 Years for Passing Microchip Secrets to Moscow

A 43-year-old Russian, identified as German Aksyonov, was found guilty of downloading sensitive technical information relating to semiconductors from the computer servers of two Dutch companies – ASML, a leading producer of machines to manufacture semiconductors, and NXP which makes microprocessors used in advanced communications systems – and passing it to an unnamed Russian intelligence agency. 

Aksyonov was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for breaking sanctions laws, illegally appropriating confidential secrets, and “computer trespass.” 

According to the prosecution he had been acquiring and passing the information that related to the processes and setting up of production lines for the manufacture of microchips, by which he had “consciously contributed” to Russia’s war machine.

Bloomberg reported that the court’s ruled: “Providing advice to and sharing technology with Russia is extremely serious.” 

Going on: “It can contribute to the strengthening of military and strategic capacities of the country, which could have consequences for Ukraine and indirect consequences for international safety and stability.”

Although the illegally acquired data had been found on Aksyonov’s own computer, it was argued that he had gained no financial benefit from his actions.

However, the prosecution said that the sheer quantity of data stolen from the two companies, even if much was considered outdated, would be invaluable to Russia whose technical capability was so much lower than that of the West – a position with which the court agreed: “It must be prevented that a country at war can benefit from advanced knowledge.”

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Aksyonov denied working with Russian intelligence or security services. At the end of 2024, the Netherlands imposed a 20-year entry ban on him which the court said would be actioned by extraditing him after he serves his prison sentence.