Solventum to pay $1.6 million in BIS settlement over China export control violations

WASHINGTON, March 27, 2026 — Solventum Corp. has agreed to pay a $1.6 million civil penalty to settle allegations by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security that it aided two violations of U.S. export controls involving semiconductor-related customers in China.

BIS said the St. Paul, Minnesota-based company admitted the conduct described in a proposed charging letter and entered into a settlement agreement covering two transactions involving EAR99 Liqui-Cel membrane contactors. The order was issued March 24 and the settlement agreement was signed March 17.

According to the charging letter and settlement, the first violation involved 87 contactors valued at about $931,355 that were exported between Dec. 28, 2023, and Jan. 5, 2024, through a routed transaction to Semiconductor Manufacturing South China Corp., or SMIC South, a party on the BIS Entity List. BIS said Solventum sales staff in China generated internal documents referring to an “End User Name” field identifying the SMIC project, but the company failed to timely identify the transaction as requiring a license after BIS partially suspended its licenses tied to SMIC South in November 2023.

The second charge involved nine contactors valued at about $90,893 that were exported on or about Jan. 5, 2021, to Ningbo Semiconductor International Corp., or NSI, another Entity List party, without the required BIS authorization. BIS said the items moved through a U.S.-based freight forwarder and were subsequently exported from the United States to China.

The settlement noted that Solventum assisted the investigation.