2023-07-27 15:40:29
It could be a movie script. The story of the Ommic affair, revealed this Thursday, July 27 by our colleagues from Parisian, it is that of a French flagship of semiconductor technology, suspected of having sold a particularly strategic commodity, for military use, to foreign powers such as China and Russia. Semiconductors are the electronic chips found in all everyday connected objects. The French company Ommic was then one of the few in the world (outside the United States) to master a technology that made it possible to make semiconductors ultra-efficient, in particular for military use.
In 2018, an intriguing Chinese businessman, linked to the defense industry in his country, acquired the company Ommic. He bought 94% of the shares via an investment fund based in France. Is it a coincidence that such a character, linked to the strategic interests of his country, takes shares in a company that manufactures a technology that China itself does not master? L’Express takes stock of what we know about this astonishing affair.
Technology for military use
Ommic is a pioneer and European leader in the field of semiconductors for the telecommunications industry and the space sector. Located in the Val-de-Marne, the company employs a hundred people. According to Le Parisien, French engineers have recently succeeded in inventing a model of super-powerful and high-performance chips, thanks to the development of an innovative technology that is supposed to be kept secret. And for good reason: the French army is interested in these chips, it uses them. They are thus used to equip military radars of tanks and fighter planes or even missile guidance systems. A “sensitive” and “strategic” technology, according to a senior official of the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
Problem, the company Ommic, under foreign control since 2018, would have sold advanced electronic components to China and Russia, which could be used to equip their respective armies. However, the true performance of the goods is such that it is subject to the regulations on dual-use goods (BDU), ie civil and military. The text is binding, it requires prior declarations and authorizations before marketing and in fact before export.
Two French and two Chinese indicted last March
According to Le Parisien, the first suspicions of the French authorities appeared during a customs check, at the beginning of 2021, which gave rise to the opening of a preliminary investigation by the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor’s Office in November 2022, entrusted to the DGSI (internal intelligence) and the Central Office for the Suppression of Serious Financial Crime. That day, customs officers intercepted a shipment of 844 electronic chips manufactured by the French company destined for China, details the daily. After examination, they discover that the products have been tampered with before packaging in order to hide their real power: traces of spikes are observed on the circuits and the technical sheets have been filled with false figures.
Thus, on March 24, four people are indicted, including two French and two Chinese, including two leaders, report Le Parisien and AFP. They are prosecuted for “delivery to a foreign power of processes, documents or files likely to harm the fundamental interests of the nation”. An offense of espionage, punishable by fifteen years in prison and a fine of 225,000 euros. The daily reports that the investigation is now being conducted by two anti-terrorism judges and a judge from the financial center of Paris. It also relates to suspicions of illegal smuggling, conspiracy, forgery and use of forgery, and misuse of corporate assets.
A complacent French boss and an intriguing Chinese businessman
The general manager of Ommic, Marc R., 74, is among those indicted. According to the daily, justice suspects him of having “implemented numerous circumvention schemes to knowingly deliver powerful chips and information on sensitive technologies to China and Russia”, in particular the control of gallium nitride , a material that allows a geared down power of the semiconductors. A complex arrangement would have “also been put in place to transfer prohibited equipment to Moscow and circumvent the trade embargo which has targeted the country since the invasion of Crimea, via China”. Initially placed in pre-trial detention, Marc R. was released under judicial supervision by the Paris Court of Appeal.
In the shadow of this company also appears a Chinese businessman, Ruoadan Z, very invested in the defense industry of his country. He would have taken the presidency of Ommic after having bought 94% of the shares in 2018, the rest belonging to one of the sons of Serge Dassault. Still according to Le Parisien, “the DGSI was already monitoring this foreign industrialist who is taking strategic shares in sensitive French nuggets: in addition to Ommic, Ruodan Z. has invested in a Lille company specializing in nanotechnology, used in particular by the French army for the fight against drones”. It would have been several months since Ruodan Z. would have set foot in France. However, significant criminal seizures have been made, according to a judicial source contacted by Agence France Presse. And according to Le Parisien, shares in the company have been seized, allowing a tricolor takeover of its control. The company was then sold to the American Macom in early 2023.
#Suspicions #delivery #industrial #secrets #China #Russia