In addition to China, Russia has also made semiconductors one of its major focuses. According to a report by Tom’s Hardware, which cites local media CNews, the country has set aside over 240 billion rubles (USD 2.54 billion) to fund a program aimed at replacing 70% of the foreign chipmaking equipment by 2030.

This effort, according to the reports, includes the launch of 110 R&D projects to reduce reliance on imported wafer fabrication tools and eventually produce chips using 28nm-class process technology. However, it is worth noting that the total investment is 57 times smaller than what Russia plans to spend on defense in its war with Ukraine in 2025 alone, the reports note.

According to the reports, to put things in context, domestic chipmakers like Angstrem and Mikron can produce chips using mature technologies, such as 65nm and 90nm nodes. However, only 12% of the 400 tools used for chip production in the country are currently made locally.

Moreover, sanctions have worsened the situation, which raise the price of essential equipment by 40% to 50% due to the need to smuggle it into Russia, the reports indicate.

Therefore, to address these challenges, Russia’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, along with government-controlled MIET, have developed the initiative, which addresses multiple aspects of chipmaking, including manufacturing tools, raw materials, and electronic design automation (EDA) tools, according to the reports.

However, the report by Tom’s Hardware raises concerns about the feasibility of the initiative, as many of the specific details remain somewhat vague.

For instance, one of the initiative’s key goal is the development of lithography equipment for 350nm and 130nm process technologies, which has a very wide gap in between. Also, Russia intends to manufacture domestic lithography systems capable of handling 65nm and 90nm process technologies. Nevertheless, even this would represent significant progress in the country’s microelectronics production, it would still lag 25 to 28 years behind the industry’s leading edge, the report states.