The reaction of bismuth and iridium with iodine in evacuated quartz ampoules at 1320 K yields black, air insensitive crystals of Bi₁₄Si₂IrI₁₂. The silicon therein is abstracted from the ampoule material whereby the oxygen is gettered in BiOI. The synthesis of Bi₁₄Si₂RhI₁₂ requires the addition of niobium, which gives NbOI₂ with the oxygen originating from the SiO₂. X-ray diffraction on single crystals showed that the two isotypic compounds crystallize in the space groups P 4/m c c with a = 1018.3(1), c = 2020.1(4) pm for M = Ir, and a = 1019.0(1), c = 2018.7(4) pm for M = Rh. The crystal structures consist of two types of isolated clusters, which form a CsCl-like packing. In the [MBi₆I₁₂] cuboctahedron the central transition metal atom is octahedrally surrounded by bismuth atoms, and the iodine atoms bridge the edges of the octahedron. The [Bi₈Si₂] polyhedron is a tetragonal antiprism of bismuth atoms of which square faces are capped by silicon atoms. Based on crystal chemistry and band structure calculations the compounds may be formulated as cluster salts [Bi₈Si₂]³⁺[MBi₆I₁₂] ^3-. Measurements of the electrical conductivity showed that Bi₁₄Si₂IrI₁₂ is a semi-conductor with a band gap of about 0.1 eV. A single unpaired electron out of 1903 electrons per formula causes paramagnetic behaviour that is superposed by strong diamagnetic contributions.