By Karen Freifeld and Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday unveiled a $252 million settlement with Applied Materials to resolve the company's alleged illegal exports of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China.
The penalty is the second highest ever imposed by the department's Bureau of Industry and Security.
"The Bureau of Industry and Security is strongly committed to safeguarding sensitive American technologies and deterring wrongdoers,"
said Jeffrey Kessler, the undersecretary of commerce for industry and security. "When companies export their products around the world, they must follow the law or face stiff penalties."
In 2023, Reuters reported that the company was under U.S. criminal investigation for potentially evading export restrictions on China's top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).
In documents released on Wednesday, the Commerce Department accused Applied Materials of engaging in conduct banned by the Export Administration Regulations, which sets U.S. export guidelines and prohibitions, on 56 occasions.
The company re-exported or attempted to export equipment with a value of about $126 million to SMIC, according to the department.
(Reporting by Karen Freifeld and Jasper Ward; Additional reporting by Ismail Shakil; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Thomas Derpinghaus)
