Russia plans to make chips on its own 28nm node by 2030

Due to the recent sanctions imposed on Russia, its government is developing a fairly ambitious plan to be more independent of Western technology. It implies a massive investment in the development and manufacture of domestic chips and in the training of personnel in this field.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was hit with an unprecedented number of international sanctions. While this has undoubtedly crippled the Russian economy, it has also cut off its access to an essential resource today, semiconductors.

Russia plans to make its own chips

Companies like Intel, AMD and IBM have stopped selling their products in Russia, leaving the country unable to source Western chips. While they could design the silicon themselves, it would not be possible to manufacture them, as companies like TSMC and GlobalFoundries also stopped sales to Russia and third parties supplying Russia.

The Russian government has devised a preliminary plan to address the problem. It is about investing about 3.19 trillion rubles (38.3 billion dollars) in the development of the local microelectronics industry. This money will go to four main areas: development of local semiconductor manufacturing technologies, development of domestic chips, commercialization of such chips, and training of local talent.

Approximately 420 billion rubles ($5 billion) will be invested in the development of new manufacturing nodes and increased production. Russia aims to ramp up local chip production using a 90nm node by the end of the year. By 2030, they intend to make chips using 28nm process technology, something TSMC did in 2011.

Russia also plans to launch a program this year that will focus on working with reverse engineering. with Western electronics and eventually manufacture them within Russian borders or in China.