The UK has included Russian CPU developers MCST and Baikal Electronics in the sanctions lists. The measures involve freezing assets and restricting work with counterparties. In particular, prohibition of the technological services provision and financing, including the grants, loans and contributions to the authorized capital.
This may lead to the suspension of the release of new CPUs in Russia.
Processor manufacturers JSC MCST (produces "Elbrus") and JSC "Baikal Electronics" (produces Baikal) got sancstioned. Previously, these manufacturers were included in the US sanctions lists.
JSC Baikal Electronics uses a license for the architecture of CPUs owned by the British company ARM. The company owns design and production licenses for a number of processors already produced (up to Baikal S), meanwhile the company own only design licenses for CPUs under development (Baikal M2, Baikal L, Baikal S2).
In practice, this means that Baikal Electronics will not be able to produce new processors at the largest semiconductor factories: UMC, Global Foundries and TSMC. An alternative way could be to search for factories that are ready to violate ARM patent law, or to transfer developments to open CPU architectures, for example, RISK V, MIPS, VLIW. In the second case, it will take 1-2 years and up to 1 billion rubles to redesign the processor.
After the introduction of large-scale sanctions, Russian microelectronics manufacturers were under attack. Against this background, the Russian Government has expanded measures to support the industry by reducing income taxes and insurance premium rates. In addition, the preliminary concept of a new national project in the field of electronics until 2030 assumes financing equal to 3.19 trillion rubles. Experts, however, are quite skeptical about the success of this project.
Source: Kommersant
