Silicon Graphics Cooperating in U.S. Probe

Silicon Graphics Inc. said it is cooperating with the U.S. government’s investigation of the sale of some of its computers to a Russian laboratory. In the last month, the Commerce Department has been trying to determine whether the Russian customer was using the machine for nuclear weapons testing, the company said. Mountain View-based Silicon Graphics said it shipped the computers last year to the Scientific Research Institute for Technical Physics in Russia, believing they would be used for environmental applications. “It is apparent that errors in judgment were made by not asking the right questions prior to the sale and by not raising the issue to the top of our organization,” Chairman and Chief Executive Ed McCracken said. It is against U.S. export laws to sell certain high-powered computers to foreign customers without approval of the U.S. government. Shares of Silicon Graphics lost 37.5 cents to close at $25.375 on the NYSE.