The German technology group Bosch has reached a settlement with the US Department of Commerce and agreed to pay a fine of $36.2 million for supplying products and software to the Chinese company Huawei without the required licences. The case relates to transactions carried out between 2020 and 2024 by two of the company’s foreign subsidiaries. The total value of the exported products exceeded $72 million.
According to the US authorities, Bosch supplied Huawei with MEMS sensors used, amongst other things, in smartphones, wearables and cars, as well as automotive software. The products were subject to US export regulations under the so-called Foreign Direct Product Rule, which extends US jurisdiction to goods manufactured outside the United States if they were produced using US technology.
Huawei has been on the US list of entities subject to trade restrictions since 2019. This means that the export of certain technologies and products requires special licences. According to the findings of the Department of Commerce, Bosch carried out over a hundred transactions without the required licence.
The company emphasises that the breaches were unintentional. Bosch itself reported the issue to the US authorities and cooperated during the investigation. As a result, the Department of Justice decided not to bring criminal charges, noting that the voluntary disclosure of the irregularities and full cooperation had significantly influenced the decision to close the case without a trial.
The case demonstrates that US export regulations remain one of the most important tools for controlling global technology supply chains. For international companies, this means they must constantly monitor changes in regulations, even if production and sales take place outside the US. Experts point out that the Bosch case is further evidence of the growing importance of compliance programmes and export risk management in the global technology sector.
Bosch has stated that, following the discovery of the issue, it has strengthened its procedures relating to trade compliance to prevent similar situations in the future.
