Bosch to pay $36.2 million to settle BIS case over Huawei shipments

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2026 — Robert Bosch GmbH will pay a $36.18 million civil penalty to resolve US allegations that it exported foreign-produced items subject to US export controls to Huawei and its affiliates without the required authorization, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said on Wednesday.

BIS said Bosch, which is headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, shipped about $72.37 million worth of MEMS sensor products and automotive software from abroad to Huawei and affiliated entities between Sept. 16, 2020, and Sept. 26, 2024. The agency said the items were subject to the Export Administration Regulations under the Foreign Direct Product Rule and were sent to parties on the Entity List without a license or other BIS authorization.

The settlement calls for Bosch to pay the $36.18 million BIS penalty. BIS said Bosch also reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to disgorge profits, with roughly $3.6 million to be paid and matched by a suspension of about the same amount from the BIS penalty as credit for that disgorgement. BIS said Bosch filed a voluntary self-disclosure and cooperated with the investigation.

The case underscores the durability of US restrictions tied to Huawei. BIS added Huawei and many non-US affiliates to the Entity List in May 2019, saying the company was involved in activities contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests. In 2020, the United States tightened the Foreign Direct Product Rule to capture certain foreign-produced items destined for Huawei entities bearing a footnote 1 designation, extending US controls well beyond direct US-origin exports.

In announcing the settlement, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement David Peters said the matter should warn companies to strengthen compliance where transactions are governed by the EAR, while also showing the benefit of voluntary self-disclosure. The investigation was handled by BIS’s Office of Export Enforcement in New York.