A series of explosive lawsuits filed in Texas this week have thrust some of America’s most prominent semiconductor companies into the international spotlight, as they face allegations of enabling deadly missile and drone strikes in Ukraine. The suits, brought by the families of Ukrainian victims and survivors, accuse Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Texas Instruments, and Mouser Electronics—a major distributor owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway—of failing to prevent their microchip technology from being diverted to Russia and Iran. Those chips, the lawsuits claim, ended up powering missiles and drones used in attacks that killed and injured civilians, including children as young as three.
The legal action, filed on December 10 and 11, 2025, in Dallas County courts, is led by renowned mass tort lawyer Mikal Watts and the law firm Baker & Hostetler. According to Bloomberg, the five lawsuits allege “domestic corporate negligence,” wrongful death, fraudulent concealment, and conspiracy to evade export restrictions. The suits are seeking damages exceeding $1 million each on behalf of approximately 20 plaintiffs, including 14 killed and six injured individuals. Among the named plaintiffs are survivors of a July 8, 2024, missile strike on a children’s hospital in Kyiv, where medical staff and young patients suffered devastating injuries.
Watts, who just returned from a nine-day investigative trip to Ukraine, described the grim reality he witnessed. At a press conference in Washington, he recounted standing at a memorial in Kryvyi Rih, where a Russian missile “blew up a bunch of kids” on a playground. “We now have a war strategy that is designed to focus on kids,” Watts said, according to the San Antonio Express-News. “The Russians are focused on kids, attacking kids, killing kids, crushing the parents. It’s just the saddest thing you’ve ever seen.”
Forensic inspections of debris from Russian weapons systems—ranging from Iskander ballistic missiles and Kh-101 cruise missiles to Iranian-made Shahed drones—have repeatedly identified microchips manufactured by Texas Instruments, AMD, Intel, or their affiliates, the lawsuits claim. The chips, described by attorneys as the “steering wheel” that helps guide a missile or drone, are seen as critical components enabling the Russian military to remotely pilot weapons to strike Ukrainian targets where civilians are most vulnerable.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the lawsuits allege that the companies demonstrated “willful ignorance” as third parties resold restricted chips to Russia, violating US sanctions. The suits further claim that Mouser Electronics facilitated chip transfers to shell companies controlled by Russian proxies. “These companies know their chip technology is making its way into Russia,” Watts said at the Washington press conference, calling the firms “merchants of death” and accusing them of making a “farce” of US sanctions law.
Despite two years of sweeping US and allied sanctions, American semiconductors have continued to show up in Russian weapons, a 2024 Bloomberg investigation found. The chips served as the “brains” for everything from drones and glide bombs to sophisticated communication systems and Iskander missiles. The lawsuits contend that the defendants—by ignoring the diversion of their products—“have chosen to maximize profit” ahead of their duty to take reasonable steps to keep their technology out of the wrong hands.
“The illicit flood of semiconductors into Russia is enabled by the knowing neglect or willful ignorance of American companies. It borders on intentional disregard,” the suit reads. Plaintiffs assert that, under Texas law, the companies owed a “common-law duty of care” to Ukrainians, especially given that Ukraine relinquished its nuclear weapons program in 1994 in exchange for security assurances from the United States.
The legal team, which includes San Antonio attorney James “Jamie” Shaw and Dallas-based Charla Aldous, points out that the US has provided $175 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. Yet, as Watts put it, “most of the damage we’re seeing there now is being caused by missiles and drones guided to their targets by American chip technology that’s being illegally exported into Russia.”
The suits were filed in Texas, not Ukraine, because the plaintiffs argue that Ukraine is “not a safe or adequate” forum for litigation given the ongoing war and the risks of injury or death for parties involved. Plaintiffs cite only Texas state-law claims and do not allege any federal or international-law violations.
Among the most harrowing stories in the lawsuits is that of Dr. Olha Babicheva and nurse Viktoriia Didovets, who were injured during the July 2024 attack on Kyiv’s children’s hospital. Babicheva, appearing by video at the press conference, described the chaos as she and other doctors rushed children undergoing dialysis to the basement. “After that, I could hear an explosion and I don’t remember anything after that … I came to my senses the next morning,” she said. She suffered severe injuries, including a skull bone injury, an orbital bone fracture, and nerve damage that left her unable to feel her right arm. Didovets suffered a liver injury and a pelvic fracture, leaving her unable to walk for months.
In response to the lawsuits, Intel issued a statement denying any wrongdoing. “We do not conduct business in Russia and suspended all shipments to customers in Russia and Belarus when the war broke out,” the company said, as reported by KERA News. “We operate in strict accordance with export laws, sanctions and regulations in the U.S. and every market in which we operate, and we hold our suppliers, customers, and distributors accountable to these same standards.” Intel added, “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on pending litigation.” Texas Instruments and AMD have not publicly commented on the lawsuits, though both previously stated they ceased Russian operations and comply with all relevant laws.
Kevin Hess, senior vice president of marketing at Mouser Electronics, said, “We deeply respect the legal process and will respond to this matter in court, versus the media.”
According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, nearly 15,000 Ukrainians have been killed and more than 39,000 injured since Russia’s invasion in February 2022. The plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that, despite extensive notice from government agencies and the media about the diversion of American technology, the defendants made “no effort to restrict distribution of the chips other than to check the box to say that I’m not directly selling to a guy named Vladimir Putin.”
The lawsuits, which name as additional defendants “Does 1-100”—unknown entities and individuals who may have participated in the distribution and diversion chains—aim to force a reckoning on how American technology is policed and exported. Watts, who has previously led billion-dollar settlements against pharmaceutical and energy giants, said part of the purpose of the litigation is to “embarrass” the companies into “doing what is right.” He added, “If you can assemble large numbers of plaintiffs and provide litigation pressure, it’s going to get real expensive.”
The legal battle now unfolding in Texas could have far-reaching implications, not just for the companies involved, but for the global semiconductor industry and the future of export controls in an era of increasingly complex supply chains and geopolitical conflict. As the cases move forward, the world will be watching to see whether US courts will hold technology giants accountable for the unintended consequences of their products in the world’s deadliest war zones.
